A representative of Trinidad and Tobago insists that the special circumstances of small island states must be "fully entrenched" in the agreement - and they're not at the moment. 

Such nations cannot be expected to make the same commitments as those with more resources, he adds.

The EU, meanwhile, begins with thanks and compliments to the French team who constructed the draft - but complains that while the text has been cut down to size, it has been stripped of much of its ambition.

Representing the "umbrella group" of non-EU developed countries, Australia's Peter Woolcott said the draft text was not the "ambitious agreement" his group was seeking.

Image source, UNFCCC

Chinese negotiator Xie Zhenhu, meanwhile, described the draft as "an open and balanced text".

David Shukman
Science editor, BBC News

Imagine standing in front of your teacher as they mark your homework. The French hosts of the climate talks are going through a similar process right now.

Their draft text, published this afternoon, is being reviewed in blunt, sometimes passionate, terms.

Each speaker softens their comments with praise for the French efforts so far and talks rather enthusiastically about the chances of a deal. But this is the key moment, the endgame, when we are learning what the negotiators regard as non-negotiable, when the hard bargaining becomes really hard.

Barbados, for example, speaking for Caribbean nations, denounced the very mention of 2 degrees in the draft, saying that the goal should be to keep global warming to a rise of 1.5C “to keep us alive”.

Dramatic stuff on a tense night with an uncertain outcome.

Representing Barbados, Denis Lowe tells the conference that he will not sign up to any agreement that threatens the survival of his people.

It would be "a grave injustice", he adds, to threaten nations like his with "benign neglect" in a weak agreement.

Mr Lowe concluded by saying that he and his colleagues want to "get back to our homes and families with good news".

Image source, UNFCCC

Speaking on behalf of small island states, Thoriq Ibrahim from the Maldives says - among other concerns - that the text must be more stringent in keeping signatories to their individual climate pledges.

Image source, UNFCCC

Edna Bomo from South Africa, representing the G77 group of developing countries, raised a number of objections to the present draft.

"Despite these concerns, the group is of the view that the text is a good basis from which to continue negotiations," she said.

Image source, UNFCCC

Mr Fabius outlines a strategy for how work should be organised following this plenary session.

After a break, it will involve simultaneous meetings, to continue through the night.

If you want to watch video of this session click this link, external.

There was something of a sit-in here in one of the main conference buildings earlier today.

Among the bright plastic animals arranged to conjure thoughts of Noah's Ark, just outside the site's two huge plenary halls, people gathered to call for ambitious action and "climate justice" for vulnerable nations.

However things go at the upcoming plenary session, there is no shortage of goodwill and ambition here among the conference attendees.

As we wait for tonight's big public session, here's a view from the BBC's office here at COP21 during last night's committee session:

The first "clean" draft, presented to delegates today by the French presidency of COP21, has been printed, downloaded, tweeted, passed around, scribbled on and discussed at length this afternoon.

At 19:00 GMT negotiators will gather in one of the huge plenary halls here in Le Bourget for their first public discussion of that draft.

This progress update from the "Comité de Paris" - a new format introduced by the French hosts - is where we will get a sense of how tough the next days and nights will be.

After that, closed-door negotiations will proceed into the night.

Prof Sir Brian Hoskins, from Imperial College London, told BBC News that there would be "trading going on".

"There are countries that will suffer whatever the rise in temperature, and the higher that [temperature] rises the more there will be to suffer," he said.

"Clearly countries will be standing out for the best deals they can get. The richer countries are going to be trying to minimise the amount of money they have to transfer.

"I think if the global emissions look as though they have peaked or will peak soon and are then going to be on the way down towards the sort of rate that will allow the targets to be achieved - that's going to be success for me."

At the same briefing, the European Union's climate commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete clearly wanted more than the draft agreement has offered - describing the text as "not ambitious enough and not bold enough".

His sentiments were echoed by other members of the panel.

A press conference has just concluded on the 'high ambition coalition' announced last night by the EU with tens of other countries.

This alliance is now 90 strong and has been formally joined by the US - represented by its lead negotiator Todd Stern.

Together they are calling for a strong overall goal, including mention of the 1.5C target for limiting global warming - and a tough mechanism for reviewing how countries are performing.

Image source, UNFCCC

Jonathan Webb
Science reporter, BBC News

There has been a lot of talk this week of finding "landing areas" in the negotiating process.

And indeed, most observers here are surprised by the amount of shared ground that has been spotted, if not yet "landed" upon.

But even conference chair Laurent Fabius, as he handed over the new draft this afternoon, acknowledged three big points that remain contentious:

• how to differentiate between developed and developing countries - and their different levels of responsibility;
• how to finance efforts to live with, as well as to slow down, climate change; and
• what level of ambition the agreement should enshrine - are we aiming to keep temperature rises to 2C, "well below 2C" or below 1.5C?

Speaking on BBC World News earlier, the chair of the "G77" bloc of (confusingly) more than 130 developing countries, had a clear view about which of these three landings might be trickiest to stick...

Here's a little recap on why these climate change talks are important, and what negotiators are hoping to achieve - and avoid...

Our environment analyst Roger Harrabin sent these tweets from a briefing here at the climate talks.

He heard from Monica Araya, from the development NGO Nivela, external, about the future responsibilities of big developing countries like India and China:

Michael Jacobs meanwhile, an expert on environmental negotiations from the LSE's Grantham Research Institute, compared COP21 favourably with the now-notorious 2009 conference in Copenhagen:

The public area at COP21, called "Climate Generations", contains all sorts of exhibits and displays.

Just like in the main conference centre, there are pedal-powered stations for charging mobile phones - but that's not the only thing you can do in a stationary saddle...

Meanwhile, in a small town in southern Guatemala, the charity Maya Pedal has been converting donated bicycle parts into so-called "bicimaquinas", or bicycle machines, for almost 20 years.

BBC Mundo's Juan Paullier sent this video report:

The German non-profit Clean Energy Wire, meanwhile, tweeted this succinct overview:

Prof Alice Bows-Larkin, from the UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, says those missing references to international shipping and aviation emissions (see previous post) are significant and may endanger the overall goal of limiting temperature rise to 2C:

Adriano Campolina, the chief executive of ActionAid International, said:

Germana Canzi, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, praised the French COP21 presidency for moving things forward. She said:

The negotiators themselves, meanwhile, are remaining relatively tight-lipped; a spokesperson for the UK delegation, for example, said: "We are examining it closely."

We will have to wait until the plenary at 19:00 GMT to hear official responses from the negotiating teams.