Historic climate change pact draft unveiled

Fabius hoped that members would agree and sign the agreement. If that fails, the talks could run into Sunday.

“I think we’re done here,” Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony De Brum told Reuters, expressing hopes for a deal. 

Critics said the emerging deal had weaknesses - it will rely on voluntary cooperation than be legally binding on nations, and the envisaged emissions cuts will not be enough to keep warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times, the level scientists say is needed to avert the worst effects of warming including severe droughts and rising sea levels.

Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the last major climate deal agreed in 1997, the Paris pact may not be a legally binding treaty. — Reuters