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‘Life on planet at stake’, France warns as climate ministers meet

– ‘Existential danger’ –

Separate reports released Sunday echoed those concerns.

A World Bank study warned that global warming could elevate levels of disease, ravage crops and push 100 million more people into poverty.

“The poor are more vulnerable to climate-related shocks than wealthier people because they are more exposed, lose more in relative terms, and lack the financial systems and social safety nets that would allow them to better prepare and cope,” it said.

Another study by the US-based research group Climate Control, meanwhile, warned that a 2 C rise in temperatures could still pose a “long-term, existential danger to many great coastal cities”.

It added that a worse-case scenario of a 4 C rise could particularly affect China, with four of the 10 most devastated cities in that forecast set to be Chinese.

A global deal to prevent worst-case-scenario warming is meant to be inked by ministers at the end of a November 30-December 11 Conference of Parties (COP21) in the French capital.

It will be opened by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and some 100 heads of state and government including US President Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi of India – and now also Putin.

The three-day ministerial “pre-COP” from Sunday to Tuesday must seek political convergence on key issues still dividing nations, to avoid a repeat of the 2009 Copenhagen summit which ended without a binding global pact.

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The Paris agreement will be underpinned by national pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas.

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