Breaking: Draft agreement issued

Chris Littlecott, 15 December 2007

Subjects:

BBC News 24 has just announced on air that a short draft agreement has been issued in Bali. Ban Ki Moon is flying back in to Bali to participate in the final push.

They hope to speak to Roger Harrabin in Bali shortly... And here he is, before I can even hit publish:

'Urgent language but no numbers' is the headline.

The EU desire for numbers is satisfied by a footnote - a major achievement for the USA.

Plenary meeting will be held over the next couple of hours to discuss. Will the poorest countries reject this draft?

Question from the studio: even if numbers had been included, they wouldn't have been binding would they?

Indeed - and the EU's hoped-for stabilisation target and long term goal are not in either. This document is a compromise, can the Chairman get it through?

So, what's Roger's feeling on where things stand?

Roger's gut feeling - he hopes this is the end point on these negotiations, but fears it may not be.

Last night - working groups were called off as the negotiations were getting so acrimonious. Conference president pulled together final text. Significance is that it pulls in all countries into the forward process on curbing emissions. The glass is back to that half-full vs half-empty stage...

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