France calls for compromise to reach climate change deal at December conference

Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Affairs Minister during climate negotiations in June in Bonn, Germany AFP

France's foreign affairs minister called for compromise on political differences to speed up progress on an agreement on climate change at a conference of representatives of 45 countries in Paris on Monday. A separate initiative in run-up to December's Cop21 climate conference in Paris gathered spiritual leaders at the Sommet des Consciences on Tuesday.

"As ministers, we have to search for grounds for compromise on large political questions.
Negotiators can then move forward on this foundation," French FM Laurent Fabius told Monday's meeting.

After months of frustrating and unfruitful talks, time constraints have increased pressure on world leaders.

A document due to be presented on 24 July as the basis for the next session on 31 August-4 September in Bonn, Germany, is far from ready, said French negotiator Laurence Tubiana.

The international community has fixed a pact to maintain world temperature below 2.0°C  by reducing carbon emissions.

Tubiana tweeted pictures from the informal discussions on Monday in Paris.

Quel accord sur le #climat? Discussions informelles entre ministres à Paris #cop21 #ambition #differenciation pic.twitter.com/01m2NJF54b

— Laurence Tubiana (@LaurenceTubiana) July 20, 2015

  Paris hosted a spiritual climate conference for world religious leaders, philosophers and artists on Tuesday.

An initiative of Nicolas Hulot, President François Hollande's special envoy for the protection of the planet, le Sommet des Consciences was the first conference on a global scale to debate climate change from a spiritual perspective.

.@N_Hulot: Je veux que chaque responsable médite ça: attention que le fatalisme des uns ne développe pas le fanatisme des autres #WhyDoICare

— Nicolas Hulot (@N_Hulot) July 21, 2015

In a Tweet Tuesday Hulot urged world leaders to ponder the following statement: "Be careful not to let the fatalism of some does feed the extremism of others."

Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, Bangladeshi Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus and the leaders of various belief systems met to urgecompromise ahead of the Cop21 Paris climate conference in December.