Negotiators at UN climate talks to meet Nov. 29, a day early

OSLO - Reuters

A woman walks past pillars with the Nations' national flags attending the COP 21 UN climate conference, decorating the exterior of the venue hall, on November 26, 2015, in Le Bourget, north of Paris, ahead of the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11), also known as ?Paris 2015? from November 30 to December 11. AFP Photo

Government negotiators at a U.N. climate conference in Paris will meet on Nov. 29, a day earlier than planned, to let them get down to work before world leaders arrive for a summit on Nov. 30. 

The U.N. Climate Secretariat said on Nov. 25 that senior officials from almost 200 nations would meet in the conference hall on the outskirts of Paris on Nov. 29 at 1600 GMT. 

Until now, they had been due to meet for the first time only after about 140 world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping attended on Monday to give speeches of encouragement. 

Officials who oversee the talks "considered that an early opening of the session will offer an opportunity to make the best possible use of the very limited time available to finalise negotiations", the Secretariat said in a statement. 

The conference, lasting until Dec. 11, is seeking to agree a deal that signals a break with a rising reliance on fossil fuels, blamed by a U.N. panel of scientists for causing more floods, heat waves and rising sea levels.