The French government has stressed it wants to deliver a "legally binding" climate change agreement at the UN's Paris summit in late 2015, arguing that it represents the primary goal of the crucial meeting.

 

Speaking at the Annual French Ambassadors Conference in Paris late last week, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is expected to have a central role at the UN climate summit, indicated that success or failure of the summit would be measured against its ability to deliver a legally binding agreement.

 

The commitment to a legally binding agreement raises the prospect of a stand-off with the US, after it was reported last week that the Obama administration was working on plans for a non-binding international agreement that would allow it to avoid the need to secure Congressional approval for any treaty.

 

The US proposal has been praised in some quarters as a pragmatic mechanism for delivering non-binding climate targets as well as a reporting process whereby nations that fail to deliver promised emissions reductions are "named and shamed".

 

However, the EU remains committed to delivering a legally-binding treaty and many developing nations want to see the US and other large emitters face legal sanctions if they fail to decarbonizes.

 

Meanwhile, the French government continued to lay the groundwork for the Paris Summit last week as Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ségolène Royal, told the same conference that the country's proposed Energy Bill and its ambitious renewable energy plans would underline France's commitment to decarburization ahead of the Paris Summit.

 

President Francois Hollande also confirmed that France will announce its contribution to the new international Green Climate Fund before the end of the year. The fund, which aims to mobilize up to $100bn a year of investment in clean technology and climate adaptation projects by the end of the decade, has proved controversial with developing countries accusing industrialized nations of failing to deliver promised funding to the new institution.