As nations push for more ambition at climate talks, chairman says they may get it

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Going into United Nations climate negotiations, the Brazilian hosts weren’t looking for big end-of-session pronouncements on lofty goals. This conference was supposed to hyperfocus on “implementation” of past promises not yet kept.

Throw that out the window.

The urgency of climate change is causing some negotiators to push for more big-picture action — on weak plans to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases, on too little money to help nations wracked by climate change, on putting teeth into phasing out coal, oil and gas. Because of that pressure to do more — including from Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — the diplomat chairing the talks said Saturday he’ll consider a big-picture, end-of-negotiations communiqué, sometimes known as a decision or cover text.