Dear Jim,

Here in Paris, negotiators are feeling the heat. As the conference enters its final crucial week, ministers are arriving, greeted by young volunteers from local neighborhoods, electrified transport and recycled art.

Negotiators were working into the early hours over the weekend to produce a 48 page draft agreement. Published on Saturday, it was 252 pages shorter than at this point during the disastrous Copenhagen talks in 2009. But within the agreement lie more than 900 square brackets, signifying areas of disagreement.

Laurent Fabius, president of COP21 and the French foreign minister, summed up the challenge ahead:

” We’re talking about life itself . . . I intend to muster the experience of my entire life to the service of success for next Friday, ” he told the conference.

But many developing countries are now worried about parts of the agreement, which they say could put pressure on them to provide climate finance, alongside rich nations. Some even say that the text is an attempt to change the UN’s convention itself.

So can the negotiators find the right compromises, delete the brackets and come to a consensus by 6pm on Friday ?

We’ll be here to find out.

With hope,
Emma Howard and the Guardian team in Paris

Here’s today’s reading list:

*__RUSSIA PLEDGES NOT TO STAND IN THE WAY OF PARIS CLIMATE DEAL

*__PARIS CLIMATE TALKS YIELD FIRST DRAFT AMID AIR OF OPTIMISM

*__ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SAYS CLIMATE CAMPAIGNS NEED TO FOCUS ON ” RIGHT NOW ” NOT 2050

*__COALITION OF BUSINESS LEADERS CHALLENGES 2C CLIMATE CHANGE TARGET

*__THE KEY PLAYERS AT THE CLIMATE PARIS SUMMIT