At climate talks, a few letters that almost sank the deal

A pact to slow global warming was reached Saturday. We’re providing insights and analysis.

December 14, 2015
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

PARIS — In the 11th hour before the landmark climate deal was approved on Saturday, a few letters threatened to derail years of calculated negotiations and two weeks of intense diplomacy — those that made “should” into “shall.”

Those two words may seem disarmingly similar, but on the international stage, they are worlds apart in terms of the diplomatic meaning they carry. The legally binding “shall” stopped the United States cold when it showed up on Saturday in what was to be the final draft of the historic pact.

Throughout the process, the longer and less binding “should” was a deliberate part of the international agreement, put there to establish that the richest countries, including the United States, felt obligated to pony up money to help poor countries adapt to climate change and make the transition to sustainable energy systems. “Shall” meant something altogether different, American officials said.

When “shall” was spotted in the document on Saturday, Secretary of State John Kerry called his French counterpart and made it clear that unless a switch was made, France could not count on American support for the agreement.

“I said: ‘We cannot do this and we will not do this. And either it changes, or President Obama and the United States will not be able to support this agreement,’ ” Mr. Kerry told reporters after delegates had accepted the deal by consensus Saturday night, amid cheering and the celebratory stamping of feet.

In the world of diplomatic negotiations, seeking a culprit or trying to ferret out ill intention from another party could have spelled doom for an effort that the French and the Americans were equally eager to see succeed.

With talks already running past their Friday deadline, the French conceded the change of wording had simply been “a mistake.” By humbling the “shall” to the status of a typo, it could swiftly be “fixed” and replaced by the more benign “should.”

The fix made, within hours, the 31-page text was presented and adopted. The French had succeeded; the Americans were appeased.

“It was a genuine – it was a mistake,” Mr. Kerry, a seasoned diplomat, said with finality. “I am convinced.”

— MELISSA EDDY


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/climate/2015-paris-climate-talks


Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Secretary of State John Kerry of America
WHEN- In the 11th hour before the landmark climate deal
WHAT- American officials refused to support for the agreement
WHY- those "should" were changed to be "shall" which is tougher
WHERE- in Paris
HOW- by wrong typing

Keywords：
1. derail- 阻礙；出軌
2. calculated- 預先計畫的
3. intense- 緊張的；重大的
4. diplomacy- 策略；外交手腕
5. disarmingly- 消除敵意的
6. binding- 必須遵守的
7. deliberate- 謹慎的
8. obligate- 強制
9. pony- 借助；付清
10. sustainable- 可承受的
11. consensus- 一致
12. culprit- 罪犯；起因
13. ferret- 查獲
14. doom- 判決
15. conceded- 讓步
16. benign- 仁慈的
17. appease- 安撫