Climate talks resume, cautious coal phaseout still on table

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Negotiators at the this year's U.N. climate talks pored over fresh proposals Saturday for sealing a deal that could credibly be said to advance worldwide efforts to tackle global warming.

British officials chairing the talks in Glasgow, Scotland, released new draft agreements after shuttle diplomacy continued past the official Friday evening deadline. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, both indicated cautious optimism late Friday that the negotiations were moving forward.

A proposal for the overarching decision retains contentious language calling on countries to accelerate “efforts towards the phase-out of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.”

But in a new addition, the text says nations will recognize “the need for support towards a just transition” — a reference to calls from those working in the fossil fuel industry for financial support as they wind down jobs and businesses.

Alok Sharma, the British official chairing the talks, said he hoped countries would clinch an ambitious agreement in Glasgow.

“I hope the colleagues will rise to the occasion," Sharma told The Associated Press as he walked into the conference venue.

Some advocacy groups said the current proposals were not strong enough.

“Here in Glasgow, the world’s poorest countries are in danger of being lost from view, but the next few hours can and must change the course we are on," Oxfam senior policy adviser Tracy Carty said. "What’s on the table is still not good enough.”

But the possibility of having fossil fuels explicitly mentioned for the first time in a decision coming out of the U.N.'s annual Conference of the Parties meeting, or COP, was well-received by some environmentalists.

“It’s weaker and compromised, but...