Paris (France) (AFP) – The UN’s IPCC climate panel failed after a week of tough talks to reach an agreement on when to release its next report on global warming, the senior French envoy at the talks said Friday.

Benoit Faraco said that “a few countries” had pressed to delay publication after the 2028 date that many European countries had wanted for the next Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

“After a week of difficult discussions, a broad coalition of developed and developing countries from all five continents, united in their support for science and the timeline proposed by scientists, managed to withstand pressure from a few countries seeking to slow down the process of adopting these reports,” he said in a post on Linkedin.

“This deadlock is not new, and it risks costing us valuable time in our response to climate change,” the French envoy said.

The IPCC is the global authority on climate science and many countries wanted its next major report out in 2028 for a crucial review of progress to cut planet-warming emissions.

But some countries, including Saudi Arabia, India and China, say that postponing the “seventh assessment report” until 2029 will provide developing countries more time to absorb its findings.

When the IPCC meeting opened in Addis Ababa on Monday, IPCC chair Jim Skea implored nations to end the stalemate and warned of the “organisational and reputational significance of its decision”.

Last week, ministers from more than 30 nations signed a letter criticising “those whose entrenched interests are at odds with reducing greenhouse gases”.

…