French president pushes for an ambitious global climate deal at UN conference this year

French President Francois Hollande delivers a speech during the opening of the Consciouness Summit in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 21, 2015. French president Francois Hollande called for an ambitious accord on climate ahead of a UN conference in Paris to address the threat of global warning. (Etienne Laurent/Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

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PARIS – French President Francois Hollande is calling for an ambitious accord on the climate to address the threat of global warming.

Hollande isn't at the Vatican climate conference, but he made the call at a Paris conference of religious and political leaders.

Halfway through the year, 47 countries — out of 195 members of the U.N. climate talks — have presented their emissions reduction targets, including the world's top polluters, the U.S. and China.

Hollande warned that these targets aren't sufficient to meet the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.