A breakthrough international accord to curb global warming is within reach but major hurdles still loom including resistance to a legally binding accord, France's foreign minister said in an interview with Reuters. Senior officials from almost 200 nations will meet from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Paris to try to rise above the collapse of the last global climate-change conference in Copenhagen in 2009 and nail down an elusive final agreement. They hope to build on various national plans for limits on rising world greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2020. "All the governments stress that they want to find an accord in Paris, but the questions remain complicated and getting a consensus between 196 parties is very difficult," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in the interview. He said agreeing to limit a rise in world temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial average would signify success and "the starting point for a new order". Last year was the warmest since records began in the 19th century and average world temperatures have already risen by about 0.85C (1.5F), raising the risk of heat waves, floods and rising world sea levels as polar ice melts.
