G20 summit: Deadlock on climate change 'broken' in Hamburg

Deadlock over climate change between the US and the other nations at the G20 summit appears to have been broken. The BBC understands a compromise final closing text has been agreed at the second day of their meeting in Hamburg. According to an EU official, the text acknowledges President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement without undermining the commitment of other countries. It comes after a second night of violent protests in Hamburg. Negotiators worked through the night in an attempt to reach a compromise on the wording of the summit statement. For many hours, draft versions of the summit conclusions were causing deep concern to most G20 members. On climate change, it was effectively a G19 plus the United States. Part of the final text will apparently recognise Donald Trump's rejection of the global Paris agreement to limit rising temperatures. But language the US was insisting on, which seemed to endorse the use of coal and oil long into the future, has now apparently reached a form others can tolerate, because they are not directly associated with it. While this deadlock has apparently been resolved, it reflects a very divisive summit in which the rest of the world has been struggling to come to terms with the US president's "America first" policy: his suspicion or rejection of the whole concept of worldwide agreements designed to encourage free trade as well as collective action against global warming...more