Clock is ticking on historic global climate pact

Le Bourget

FRANCE is to deliver on Wednesday a streamlined draft of a historic global pact to fight climate change, as world leaders scrambling to overcome dealbreakers showed optimism ahead of a weekend deadline.

The 195-nation United Nations talks have been billed as the last chance to avert the worst consequences of global warming: deadly drought, floods and storms, and rising seas that will engulf islands and densely populated coastlines.

To seal an elusive deal by Friday's deadline, ministers are racing to resolve a handful of stubborn disputes that have blocked the path to a universal climate pact for more than 20 years.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, presiding over the conference, said that he would deliver a streamlined draft for the deal by 1pm (1200 GMT) on Wednesday, after re…