While the rest of the world tunes in to Saturday morning cartoons or heads out for brunch, negotiators head back to Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, to continue work on a new global climate pact.  Unofficially, today is “transition day”, as the COP Presidency takes over the reins of the process from the contact groups, and as ministers begin to arrive and lead their country delegations.

But officially, it’s “High-level Action Day”, and will feature more than 50 “high-profile personalities” including UN-SG Ban Ki-moon, French President Francois Hollande, former US Vice President Al Gore, California Governor Jerry Brown, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, and actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sean Penn – all urging governments to make progress and finalise a comprehensive and ambitious agreement in Paris.

Carbon Pulse continues to track key developments in the talks and on the sidelines, and will post updates as they come in.

1549 CET – NEW TEXT ON MARKETS: The following [bracketed] text was added to this morning’s draft agreement under article 3 ter (mechanisms to support sustainable development):

{Proposed Mechanism 1}

[[Establishes a multi window mechanism][Establishes a framework for sustainable development mechanisms][A mechanism to support sustainable development in [developing country] Parties is hereby established] under the authority and guidance of the CMA, shall be supervised by a body designated by the CMA, and shall aim to:

(a) Promote sustainable development in developing country Parties;

(b) Incentivise and facilitate participation in mitigation action by public and private entities authorised by a Party;

(c) [Enhance mitigation ambition by developing country Parties, by incentivising supplementary voluntary climate action, beyond their ###][Fully respect the mitigation contributions of participating Parties to ensure that the global mitigation effort is not undermined];

(d) [Provide for net global emission reductions through the cancellation of a share of units generated, transferred, used or acquired];

(e) [Assist Parties with a ### that reflects an absolute target in relation to a base year to fulfil their ###, through the use of mitigation outcomes from mitigation activities in developing countries][Consider the variety and dynamics of national circumstances of Parties];

(f) [Ensure environmental integrity of Parties’ cooperative mitigation actions, including ensuring that such mitigation shall not be claimed more than once, in accordance with accounting guidance elaborated under Article [3.10]].]

2. [The CMA shall ensure that a share of the proceeds from certified project activities are used to cover administrative expenses as well as to assist developing country Parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change to meet the costs of adaptation.]

3. [The CMA shall adopt modalities and procedures for the first window of the above mentioned mechanism building on the mechanism defined under [Article 12][Article 6] of the Kyoto Protocol and related decisions of the CMP.]

{Proposed Mechanism 2}

1. [Establishes a mechanism to support holistic and integrated approaches to sustainable development in harmony with nature to be available to assist developing country Parties in fulfilling their ### including in a balanced manner mitigation, adaptation, provision of finance, technology transfer and capacity building. This mechanism shall be under the authority and guidance of the CMA, and shall be supervised by a body designated by the CMA, and aim to:

(a) Enhance of mitigation and adaptation ambition and the provision or mobilization of public financing technology transfer and capacity building in an integrated manner for climate action;

(b) Enhance non-market-based approaches and enable participation in joint cost-effective mitigation and adaptation actions by public and private entities acting under the responsibility of a Party.

(c) Support the implementation of the joint mitigation and adaptation approach for the integral and sustainable management of forests as an alternative policy approach to results-based payments. (d) Fully respect mitigation contributions of participating Parties to ensure that the global mitigation effort is not undermined.]

2. [The CMA shall adopt modalities and procedures for the mechanism referred above on its first session.]

1529 CET – QUEBEC’S LDC PLEDGE: Quebec has contributed C$6 million to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), the GEF-hosted climate fund for the most vulnerable countries. The commitment, announced by the Canadian province’s Premier Philippe Couillard, is the first to come from a subnational government and brings total new financing to the LDCF to more than $252 million.

1448 CET – MARKETS “NOT THE PRIORITY”: Including language supporting the use of market-based mechanisms in a new global climate agreement in Paris is “not the priority”, China’s top negotiator said.

1306 CER – CHINA-KOREA ETS LINK: South Korea is willing to work with China to study whether it is possible to link their national carbon markets, according to Xie Zhenhua, China’s special climate envoy.

1250 CET – DRAFT TEXT PUBLISHED: A new draft Paris agreement text proposed by the co-chairs was published Saturday. It was adopted by negotiators in ADP, and will now be passed to ministers. The full document is available here. Over the past week, the draft agreement has been somewhat streamlined and features “bridging proposals” that will help ministers work through the political issues underlying the deal, providing them with common-ground options from which they can begin their talks.

“Over the past few days, we saw movement in the negotiating blocs, as different priorities emerged and the North-South dynamic has become more nuanced around most issues, except for finance, where that still is in play. Saudi Arabia is acting as a roadblock, while India is being a more constructive player in the talks. No doubt there will be drama over the next week or so, but there are landing zones visible,” said Liz Gallagher of E3G.

“It’s going to be quite a sprint for ministers to secure a strong deal by Friday … This will require immense skill on the part of the French Presidency and absolute cooperation between governments to mediate these differences,” said Tasneem Essop, head of WWF’s delegation.

By Carbon Pulse – news@carbon-pulse.com