UN climate talks near half-time but key issues remain unresolved

Sharm El-Sheikh: As the UN climate talks in Egypt near the half-way point, negotiators are working hard to draft deals on a wide range of issues they'll put to ministers next week in the hope of getting a substantial result by the end.

The top US negotiator indicated that a planned meeting on Monday between US President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping of China on the sideline of the Group of 20 meeting in Bali could also provide an important signal for the climate talks as they go in the home stretch. While all countries are equal at the UN meeting, in practice little gets done without the approval of the world's two biggest emitters, China and the United States.