Michal Kurtyka, a Polish official chairing the talks in Katowice, sealed the deal on Saturday after diplomats and ministers from almost 200 countries approved. The UN talks were meant to provide firm guidelines for countries on how to transparently report their greenhouse gas emissions and their efforts to reduce them. Scientists say emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide need to drop sharply by 2030 to prevent potentially catastrophic global warming. The meeting postponed decisions on pledging more ambitious action to fight global warming and on regulating the market for international carbon emissions trading. Last month, a study found that global warming will worsen disasters such as the deadly California wildfires and the powerful hurricanes that hit the United States this year.

Source: Irish Independent December 15, 2018 21:14 UTC