Headline May 12, 2017/ ''' CLIMATE WITH CLAUSES '''

''' CLIMATE WITH CLAUSES '''

*US WAFFLING* : THERE HAS BEEN  a chorus of appeals from US and foreign business leaders, politicians-

And NGOs for Washington not to abandon the agreement.

On Monday,  200 global investors managing more than  $15 trillion  (13.7 trillion euros] in assets, urged the  G-7 rich country group, which includes the US, to  ''stand by their commitments to the Paris Agreement''. 

*The Paris Climate  Agreement :  Key points* :

;- Temperatures

.- Financing

.- Specialisation

.- Emission goals.

.- Burden sharing

.- Review mechanism

.- Climate-related losses. 

BONN : 

Uncertainty over America's future in the climate-rescue Paris Agreement loomed large over  UN talks that opened last Monday to work out the nuts and bolts of implementing the  hard-fought International deal.

Till some days ago, US President Donald Trump had yet to announce whether he intends keeping a campaign promise to withdraw Washington from the pact in whose predecessor, Barrack Obama, was instrumental.

''There's no question that if the US withdraws it is going to create difficulties ........in the negotiations,'' Paula Caballero of the  World Resources Institute  think tank  said as climate envoys met for their first session since Trump's arrival in the White House.

She was confident, though, these challenges would not be......... ''unsurmountable'',    noting that businesses, cities and individual US states were firmly on track to a green energy future.

A total of  196 countries    -all except Nicaragua and Syria  -are parties to the 2015 deal which Trump threatened to  ''cancel''.

The 11 day Bonn haggle is meant to start drafting a  ''rulebook: to guide member countries in the practical execution of the pact, which seeks to brake global warming by curbing fossil fuel emissions.

But the negotiations risk being overshadowed by fears that the world's number 2 carbon polluter will withdraw and throw the entire process into disarray.

The US did send a delegation to the talks, though smaller than the in previous years. Delegation head  Trigg Talley, who represented the US under Obama, declined to answer questions on the team's new brief.

Earlier, a State Department official said : 

''We are focused on ensuring that decisions are not taken at these meetings that would prejudice our future policy, undermine the competitiveness of US businesses, or hamper our broader objective of advancing US economic growth and prosperity.''

Obama and china's Xi Jinping led a diplomatic push which saw the deal sealed in the French capital in 2015, after 2 years of tough bartering.

Widely hailed as the last chance to stave off  worst-case scenario global warming, the pact was  savaged by a   campaigning Trump, who called climate change a  ''hoax''  perpetrated by China.

With the rest of the world on tenter-hooks ever since, trump has said he will make his decision before the next G7 meeting on may 26-27 in Sicily.

Some fear a US withdrawal from the agreement would dampen enthusiasm among other signatories for ramping up national emissions-cutting targets.

Current pledges place the world on track for average global warming of around three degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial revolution levels   -far above the limit of two degrees Celsius [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] targeted in the Paris deal.

The Trump administration has already proposed slashing funds for the UN climate science panel, for the Green Climate Fund that helps poor countries combat global warming, and for the UN climate forum under whose auspices the negotiations took place.

''Global investors are eager to open their wallets to a low-carbon future,'' said Mindy Lubber,  president of  CERES, a non-profit organization that works with  North American  companies on sustainable projects.

''But it won't happen without clear, stable policy signals from countries worldwide   -in particular the US government whose waffling on the Paris Climate Agreement is hugely troubling,'' she said in a statement.

The key mission of the May 8-18 meeting in Bonn is to start drafting ''rules''  for putting the agreement into action : what information must countries include in their emission updates, for example, and how must they report?

The rulebook must be finished by 2018.

The World Students Society is continuously watching the situation and developments on very regular basis and will keep the world updated.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society and Twitter- !E-WOW! : the Ecosystem 2011:

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