How is Switzerland perceived at the climate conference?

As negotiators reach the midway point at United Nations climate change talks in Paris, compromise is being sought among diverging country and group positions. swissinfo.ch looks at how Switzerland’s positions are perceived in the heat of the talks.  A year after negotiators at the COP20 in Lima failed to present a solid draft for this month’s Paris talks – during which over 190 delegations must formulate a new agreement to limit global warming – a sense of urgency can be felt among the vast tents set up at what used to be an airport.  At so-called spin-off meetings aimed at ironing out specific points of disagreement one paragraph at a time, conference chairs repeatedly remind delegates of the tight schedule.  “We don’t have much time – please work as quickly as possible,” urges one meeting “facilitator”, before dozens of delegates discuss wording, greater detail and the removal of parentheses.  Two paragraphs, edited by Switzerland, which deal with mitigation and ...