The United Arab Emirates, which hosts the COP28 climate summit, said it would seek consensus on a new draft agreement after widespread criticism of the wording on fossil fuels, AFP reported.
Majid Al Suwaidi, director-general of COP28, played down the attacks on the text, saying the Emirati host country had checked the countries' "red lines" and was working on another project.
"We need to work on how to incorporate their views into the text in a way that everyone is happy with and we can move forward toward the goals of limiting warming to 1.5°C," he said.
"I think what happened with our writing was that we had honest, practical, and pragmatic conversations about where people's boundaries really are," he said.
"It's a matter of reaching a consensus."
According to the rules of the UN Climate Convention, agreements need the consensus of all participants - nearly 200 countries.
Saudi Arabia is leading the fight against calls backed by vulnerable countries and Western powers to phase out oil, gas and coal, which are the biggest culprits in the planet's climate crisis.
"We've known for a long time that the language around fossil fuels is complicated," he said.
"There are people who want a phase-out, there are people who want a phase-down. Some want different wording."
"The question is to reach a consensus and we don't want a wording that leads to blocking the process," he added.
Negotiators are already working past a deadline set by the emirates to complete work by the official closing of the 13-day conference at 11 am local time.
"We would all like to finish on time, but we also want to achieve the most ambitious result possible. That is our only goal," Suwaidi said. /BGNES