KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — Negotiators at the U.N. climate summit are resting after the first week of talks ended on a sour note Saturday when the U.S. sided with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in blocking endorsement of a key scientific report on global warming.
Scientists and campaigners expressed frustration Sunday at diplomats’ inability to welcome the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change laying out the consequences of a 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) rise in average global temperatures.
A leading author of the study, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, asked in a tweet Sunday: “What is so disturbing in our (report) that four governments cannot even ‘welcome’ its findings?”
Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists said high-level talks next week will likely see “more contentious discussions like we saw last night.”
