STOCKHOLM -- African countries on Sunday dismissed an early draft of a United Nations climate accord as "unbalanced" and demanded amendments before they will even consider it at the final negotiating session before a conference in Paris.
The move by the African bloc came on the eve of weeklong talks in Bonn, Germany, on what's envisioned to become the most ambitious agreement ever to fight global warming.
Delegates today were supposed to start line-by-line editing of a 20-page draft that contains multiple options on how to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists said are warming the planet.
But the African countries, many of which are among the most vulnerable to climate effects such as desertification and sea-level rise, said the draft "cannot be used as a basis for negotiation, as it is unbalanced and does not reflect the African Group positions and crosses the group's red lines."
Group spokesman Seyni Nafo said the African countries want more emphasis on financial support to help poor countries cope with climate change.
Nafo said the group was confident that it would be allowed to make additions to the text before negotiations get underway.
"Our position is not to delay work, but to ensure that there's a fair basis for all," he said.
About 150 countries -- as well as top emitters China, the United States, the European Union and India -- have already made voluntary pledges to cut or curb their emissions after 2020, when the deal is supposed to take effect.
But several analyses show those pledges won't be enough to prevent levels of warming that many consider dangerous, so a key element of the Paris deal would be a mechanism to raise those commitments over time.
"We don't want to make a picture; we want to make a movie," Netherlands climate envoy Michel Rentenaar said, insisting that the Paris agreement cannot freeze the level of ambition on climate action.
The U.N. talks have made significant strides since a 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, failed to live up to expectations. For the first time, all countries now agree they need to act against climate change, which scientists said is already transforming the planet through melting glaciers, rising sea levels, intensifying heat waves and warmer, more acidic oceans.
Though major sticking points remain, including how to spell out the different responsibilities of nations in various stages of development, rich and poor countries have moved closer in recent years.
"We have gone very far from the Copenhagen atmosphere," said Pa Ousman Jarju, Gambia's environment minister.
It would be a major setback if some countries rejected the draft in Bonn, leaving negotiators with little time to come up with a new one before the Paris conference, which begins next month.
Several delegates said they didn't expect that to happen, though the African move Sunday underscored how easily the process, which is based on consensus, can be slowed down.
One of the most contentious issues is money. Wealthier countries have promised to provide $100 billion annually by 2020 to help poor countries reduce their emissions and deal with unavoidable effects of climate change. But they are reluctant to make any commitments beyond that and say that the most advanced developing nations should also chip in.
A Section on 10/19/2015