Riyadh Undermining Climate Deal at COP21 - NGO Observer

PARIS (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — The parties to the climate talks are set to sign a legally binding deal, the draft text of which is already prepared. The objective of the agreement is to prevent the global warming by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, as warming by 2 degrees is scientifically proven to be catastrophic for the planet, especially for small island nations.

"Saudi Arabia has been blocking on a number of fronts. First, they have been opposing any reference to 1.5 degrees, which is a key issue and a threshold for the vulnerable countries' survival," Liz Gallagher, Programme Leader of Climate Diplomacy at Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) said.

According to Gallagher, Saudi Arabia is also opposing "trying to align with the broader financial investments."

"Of course, Saudi Arabia is an oil-based economy, so it doesn't have a vested interest in seeing a strong outcome of this negotiation process," Gallagher said adding that Riyadh claimed it had no funds to help developing countries adapt to reducing emissions and asked for money for technology.

The Paris talks aim to reach a legally binding agreement that would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, dealing with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

It is CO2 emissions that mainly cause greenhouse effect and, thus, global warming. These emissions are produced by energy industries — as a result of burning oil, coal or gas. The deal could heavily impact the Saudi economy as it is oil-based.