Countries late to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change should not be excluded from negotiations on the new UN deal’s rules.
That is the view of leading climate officials from France and Morocco, the two countries charged with guiding international talks on curbing global warming, in a plan for the talks published on Friday.
It suggests the European Union’s 28 member states will still have a say in the formation of the deal, despite fears Brussels will not be able to formally approve the treaty till late 2017.
“We consider that no Party should be disadvantaged or excluded from the collective development of the rulebook of the Paris Agreement simply because it is still in the process of joining the Agreement,” says a letter from the French and Moroccan presidencies of the climate talks.
So far, 177 countries have signed the deal, which requires formal ratification or approval from 55 countries covering 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions to come into force.
The pact aims to hold warming well below 2C and sets a target of zero net emissions in the second half of the century, but this will require a rapid uptick in emission cuts and support for developing countries.
National pledges towards that goal can be found in an online registry launched by the UN on Friday.
Priorities identified by the presidencies include “strengthening action on mitigation and adaptation by all Parties before 2020” and “mobilizing finance, technology and capacity-building support before and after 2020.”
UN climate negotiations resume in Bonn on 16 May, scheduled to last for two weeks.