CRI听力:Talks on Climate Pact Shift to Higher Gear

At a plenary session, Maldives environment minister and representative of the small island nations bloc, Thoriq Ibrahim, called for decisive action against climate change.

"COP21 will be the last opportunity for the world to seal the agreement we desperately needed if we are to avert the worst impacts of climate change. We therefore have no alternative but to take decisive action now. We are more acutely aware, few are more acutely aware, of this harsh reality than our ASIS membership who in the past year alone have endured the brunt of record level typhoons and cyclones in the Pacific, devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean and uNPRecedented tidal surges and floods in the Indian Ocean and along the coast of Africa."

Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko is the South African diplomat and head of the G77 and China bloc representing over 80 percent of the world's population. Diseko warned that developed nations needed to go beyond the 100 billion of pledges made to help poorer countries tackle climate change.

"We require a substantial up-scaling of finance from the 2020 base level of 100 (b) billion (US dollars) and Annex 1 country parties and other developed countries included in Annex 1 have the principal responsibility in providing support which must be new, additional, predictable and sustainable and in equal allocation between adaptation and mitigation."

Diseko stressed developing countries shared a common commitment to address the climate challenge in a manner that ensures they achieve a goal of limiting temperature increases to safe levels while allowing flexibility to pursue their sustainable development priorities

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that while the main text of a climate agreement should be legally binding, some elements may be voluntary.

"This agreement which will be, (the) main part should be a binding one. But there may be some elements, some element, which may not necessarily be binding. I think this is what we understand at this time. Therefore basically, this is a binding (agreement) but depending upon the elements, there will be some voluntary and some binding ones."

Ban also urged governments to set off an "energy revolution" to rein in heat-trapping carbon emissions and avert disastrous global warming.

French Foreign Minister and COP21 President Laurent Fabius announced an initiative that would move funds to Africa for additional renewable energy.

"Regarding the United States in general, we and the President of the Republic have had the opportunity to discuss this very directly with President Obama, who as you know, is personally very committed to finding an agreement in Paris because the fight against climate change is really one of his priorities for his country. Therefore our relations are good and it just so happens US Secretary John Kerry has just arrived from Washington and I have met him this morning."

The Paris conference is the 21st time world governments have met to seek a joint solution to climate change.

Delegates from almost 200 nations are currently working on reaching a deal set to be the strongest agreement yet to bind both rich and poor to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

For CRI, I'm Guo Yan.