The annual UN global climate change talks started in the Peruvian capital Monday amid hopes for hammering out a new international climate deal ahead of key talks in Paris in 2015.
Thousands of representatives from nearly 200 nations gathered at the Peruvian Army headquarters for the two-week-long negotiations formally known as the COP 20, or the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Xinhua reported.
Polish Environment Minister Marcin Korolec, who was COP19 president, hailed the 2030 framework agreed by the European Union and the China-US joint announcement for emission cut as some of the major achievements of this year.
Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who was elected at the opening session as COP20/CMP10 president, urged participants to work in a creative way to reach global consensus in the following 12 days and stressed that an inclusive and transparent process was his top priority.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres encouraged all actors to broaden scope of actions, and create political parity of adaptation and mitigation.
"This COP must make history," Figueres said, highlighting increased collective capacity of climate action worldwide and urging stronger global moves for a sustainable future.
