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UN climate talks "inadequate," says French ecology minister Royal

Ségolène Royal has slammed UN climate talks as painfully "inadequate," in the face of the urgency of climate change. Talks to hammer out a historic deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, resumed on Monday, ahead of crunch talks in Paris later this year. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says he's confident of striking an early agreement.

French Minister for Ecology, Segolene Royal (R) and General Secretary of the Elysee Palace Jean-Pierre Jouyet leave the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 20, 2015.
French Minister for Ecology, Segolene Royal (R) and General Secretary of the Elysee Palace Jean-Pierre Jouyet leave the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
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"UN climate talks are completely inadequate... " It was with these words that France's Ecology minister Ségolène Royal put a damper on a ten-day climate conference, which resumed in Bonn on Monday.

"Everyone knows it, but the weight of UN negotiations is such that we carry on as if nothing was wrong," she said regrettably, ruling out the possibility of a deal being reached to reduce gas emissions to below 2C by December, when crunch talks are due to take place in Paris.

"I'm not saying we should stop the UN procedure," Royal explained, "but what's needed is a document regrouping all of the commitments of the most industrialised countries, from the EU notably, and responses from those countries who don't agree to find out why."

The race to map out a deal that would save the Earth's climate from potentially irreversible damage, is hinging on an 80-page draft text of national viewpoints, that needs to be trimmed down into something manageable, with a consensus.

But France's Foreign minister Laurent Fabius says there is a consensus, and is confident that a pre-agreement to curb greenhouse gases by 2020, can be reached as early as October.

So far, only 38 UN parties have made pledges to curb their carbon emissions to below 2C designed to be the crux of Paris' climate deal.

But on current emissions trends, scientists warn the planet is on track for possibly 4.8 C of warming this century alone, with poor countries being the most at risk of drought, flooding and rising sea levels.

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