Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said governments had very nearly reached a compromise deal Friday night at a UN summit on climate change, after two weeks of extremely tough negotiations, dpa reported.
"We are almost through this process," Espinosa, who chairs the talks, said in an update late in the evening, near tears after a rare standing ovation from government ministers and delegates involved in the talks.
Espinosa said draft texts put forward by her presidency represented "real and substantial progress" towards a comprehensive deal. She stressed that the issues remained "complex" and talks were ongoing between governments.
"They are the best effort we have collectively achieved so far," Espinosa said. "We have very limited time to make a last push to improve them."
The draft texts appeared to resolve key deadlocks, in some cases by pushing decisions toward a later date. Wealthy countries agreed to continue working toward an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, while emerging powers signed up to increased scrutiny of their climate actions.
There was no decision on what any future global treaty would look like. Countries will continue discussing the "legal form" question in the coming year, the draft said.
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