Subject: BREAKING NEWS: Optimism in Paris as final draft of proposed climate deal released
From: "POLITICO" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2015 05:36:13 -0600

LE BOURGET, France - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius unveiled the final draft of a landmark international climate change deal Saturday morning, calling it a "historic turning point" in the decades-long fight to tackle climate change.

"We are in the home stretch," French President Francois Hollande told negotiators. He added: "Now, we are at a decisive moment in time. There's only one relevant question and you are the only ones who can answer it: Do we want an agreement?"

The deal still needs approval from representatives of the U.S. and 195 other governments, which could continue fighting over the fine print throughout the day. But its success would be a major win for President Barack Obama, who has made climate change one of his top second-term priorities. 

In the hours before Saturday morning's release, top U.S. officials including State Department climate envoy Todd Stern met behind closed doors with Chinese officials, and Obama had personally called Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, what was supposed to have been the summit's final day.

Fabius said the text, which he produced based on nearly round-the-clock consultations with negotiators, is both "ambitious and balanced." In a passionate speech, Fabius warned negotiators to seize the moment and approve the text later Saturday after they've had a chance to review it.

"The world is holding its breath. It counts on all of us," he said.

Fabius said the agreement sticks with a goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to "endeavor to limit" temperatures to 1.5 degrees, the more ambitious target desired by many smaller, low-lying countries. He said the text's non-binding language calls for defining a new climate finance goal between now and 2025. He added that text also includes measures to review countries' domestic climate change plans every five years, something the U.S. wanted.

Even though the deal has not yet been sealed, the meeting felt like a celebration, with negotiators receiving Fabius and other top officials with raucous applause.

Outside the earlier meeting with Stern and other U.S. officials Saturday, Liu Zhenmin, a top Chinese official, said he expects the new draft to meet one major priority of China: removing language from an earlier draft that had essentially called for a halt to almost all greenhouse gas emissions during the second half of the century. Instead, Liu said, the Chinese prefer language calling for "low-carbon development" as the long-term goal of the deal.

 Stern declined to comment as he exited the meeting.
 
 "Rumours are that the compromises have been found. Now final checks and translations," Bas Eickhout, a Green member of the European Parliament, tweeted Saturday morning from Paris.

Sara Stefanini contributed to this report.
 
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