UN climate talks 'deadlocked' on key issues: Top China diplomat

UN negotiations aimed at preventing runaway global warming remain deadlocked less than 24 hours before the 12-day talks are set to end, China's top climate diplomat said Thursday.

Ministers working overnight along parallel negotiating tracks struggled to weave dozens of strands into a "rule book" that would bring to life the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The 2015 treaty vows to cap the rise in Earth's temperature at "well under" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and 1.5C if possible.

"We are seeing deadlocks in certain areas," China's Xie Zhenhua told journalists in Katowice, Poland.

"We need to avoid straying from the principles and spirit of the Paris Agreement... We cannot accept any backsliding," Xie said through a translator.

The 195-nation Paris pact promises hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to poor nations already coping with extreme weather made worse by climate change, and -- more broadly -- to orient financial flows towards greening the global economy.

The treaty, already ratified, goes into effect in 2020.

Among the more nettlesome issues is how nations report progress in implementing voluntary national plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Wealthy nations are pushing for the rapid adoption of a unified and "transparent" set of rules that apply to all nations.

Developing countries favour a generous interpretation of the "flexibility" they are assured in the treaty.

"Only the person wearing shoes knows whether they are comfortable," Xie said, citing an "old Chinese saying".

"It should be up to each country to decide when, how frequently, and what content to provide."
"How could I not be."
"We would welcome them back to the climate change arena."