The political part of the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, started Wednesday with ministers from many countries and some world leaders arriving for this “high-level” segment of the two-week-long “conference of the parties” or COP23 (IOD Nov.6’17). While the US presence has been significantly scaled back, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson not attending but instead represented by Undersecretary Thomas Shannon, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are in attendance. So too is Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih. He will, according to a press release, reaffirm Saudi Arabia’s commitment “to ensure full operational implementation for Paris Climate Agreement remains on track,” despite past accusations by environmentalists and other critics that the Opec kingpin has in past years been an obstructionist force in the talks.
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