Negotiators from 195 nations have delivered a blueprint for a pact to save mankind from disastrous global warming, raising hopes that decades of arguments will finally end with a historic agreement in Paris.

The planned deal would aim to break the world's dependence on fossil fuels for energy, slashing the greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil, coal and gas that are causing temperatures to rise dangerously.

Tortuous UN negotiations dating back to the early 1990s have failed to forge unity between rich and poor nations, and the Paris talks are being described as the "last, best chance" to save mankind.

They began on Monday with a record-breaking gathering of 150 world leaders who sought to energise the process, and the next crucial phase ended on Saturday with the adoption of a draft text of an agreement.

Negotiators finalised the draft following an often tense week of talks at a conference centre in Le Bourget on the northern outskirts of Paris.

While many extremely contentious points still have to be resolved by ministers during a scheduled five days of talks starting on Monday, delegates said they felt the foundations had been laid for success.

"We are very happy to have this progress. The political will is there from all parties," said China's chief climate envoy, Su Wei.

After the draft was adopted to loud applause, South African negotiator Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko drew on her nation's revered democracy icon in a bid to inspire others.

"In the words of Nelson Mandela, it always seems impossible until it is done," she said.....

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-06/hopes-rise-as-un-adopts-climate-saving-blueprint/7004920

[size=8]The “Wanted”-style posters went up in Paris late on Sunday. Credit Avaaz[/size]
A Stunt by Environmental
Activists Targets Climate Doubters

2015-12-07T11:01:39-05:00
December 7, 2015

Besides their deadly serious purpose, the Paris climate talks are also an opportunity for elaborate displays of performance art. Some artists were very busy Sunday night.

Environmental activists pasted more than 1,000 “Wanted” posters outside luxury hotels here overnight, calling seven people who have ties to the fossil fuel industry or are skeptics of climate change “criminals.” The activists also distributed flyers with photographs of the seven.

“These lobbyists have come to Paris to sabotage a global deal for ambitious climate action,” said Emma Ruby-Sachs, acting executive director of Avaaz, the activist group that organized the stunt. “Ministers must listen to their people, not polluters, and refuse meetings with climate criminals who want to derail a deal the whole world wants,” she added.

Those who made the group’s list are:

Myron Ebell and Christopher C. Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish author who does not question the reality of climate change but doubts the urgency of the problem and the solutions put forward by activists
Marc Morano, a former Republican congressional aide who runs a website called Climate Depot and has criticized climate scientists for, as he says, putting activism ahead of science
Benjamin Sporton, an Australian who is the chief executive of the World Coal Association
James M. Taylor, senior fellow at the climate-change denial lobby group Heartland Institute
Fiona Wild, a chemist who is the vice president of BHP Billiton, a leading mining, metals and oil company based in Australia
All seven were asked by The New York Times to respond to the stunt and allegations; four responded to the emails.

Avaaz said that the climate skeptics needed to be criticized because they have had an influence on past United Nations climate talks. At the talks in Durban, South Africa, in 2011, they persuaded some negotiators to call for carbon credits for new coal plants, while at the talks in Warsaw in 2013, they supported other negotiators who wanted “clean coal” to be mentioned as part of the solution.

Some climate activists argue that clean coal is an oxymoron.