Boosted by the encouraging comments of US Secretary of State John Kerry, negotiators from more than 190 countries, whose mandate was to fill in the brackets on a global climate accord in just two weeks -- and whose energy was beginning to wane -- started to see an agreement emerging.

"Even without a fixed number and a legal shell, we are going to see an enormous amount of movement," Kerry said to an enthusiastic, cheering audience at the "Earth to Paris" summit in the Petit Palais, the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts.

“I have absolute confidence in the ability of capital to move where the signal of the marketplace says 'go' after Paris," he said. There would be a final draft to distribute by Thursday, to complete on Friday. However, he conceded that these types of negotiations have a history of adding a few days to get to the final product.

The talks are formally known as the Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP21.

Divisions have surfaced among delegates about many issues, most notably, whether or not the agreement will be legally binding. Billed initially by the sponsors as a meeting to negotiate an enforceable agreement that would hold countries to their pledges reduce their carbon emissions, several regional groups, including the European Union and the Group of 77 development nations were dismayed when President Obama made clear that the outcome would not be a treaty at all, although it might have some enforceable monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
 
Irina Bokova, the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which plays a role in educating the public about climate change and which protects heritage sites, told CBS News, "I wish we had a legally binding document, but the measurement of success of Paris will depend on the type of document and the way it will be monitored, this is an important message; there is already success because we have seen such commitment from the U.S., China, and the European Union, which came with strong national commitments ... and we've seen more commitment from the private sector, which is key."

As the negotiations entered their second and final week, diplomats said that the European Union appeared ready to forge a compromise. "In principle, this will be a binding agreement," Ban Ki-moon said, but added that compromises are being made and that the country targets will be reviewed in 2020 and every five years after.

Negotiators adopted a draft climate agreement Saturday that was cluttered with brackets and competing options, leaving ministers with the job of untangling key sticking points in what is envisioned to become a lasting, universal pact to fight global warming.

As the UN talks outside Paris reached their midway point, the 48-page draft agreement was sent along to environment and foreign ministers who will work on it next week.

"So let's work," French President Francois Hollande said in a speech Saturday. "It's up to the ministers and officials of every government to remove options, find compromises and make decisions on the difficult issues without undermining the ambition" of the climate pact.

Many disagreements remain, almost all related to defining the obligations and expectations of rich and poor countries, as well as those who don't fit neatly into either category. The draft had multiple options on that issue — everything from who should pay for a global transition to clean energy to what happens to countries that miss their targets to fight climate change.

One of the most radical proposals called for an "international tribunal of climate justice" to deal with wealthy countries that don't fulfill their commitments. Rich nations are certain to reject that idea.

"We would have wished to be further along than we are at this point, but the text being forwarded so far reflects our key priorities," said Maldives delegate Thoriq Ibrahim, who chairs an alliance of small island nations on the front lines of climate change.

Although 184 countries have already submitted national plans to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, how to anchor those pledges in a legally binding deal remains to be worked out.

Jake Schmidt of the Natural Resource Defense Council, a New York-based environmental group, said the issue could be resolved by avoiding words like "shall" in key paragraphs about emissions targets.

The Paris accord is meant to be a turning point in the world's efforts to fight climate change. Since they started in 1992, the U.N. talks have not been able to stop the rise in emissions, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels, blamed for warming the planet.

Previous agreements only required rich countries to reduce their emissions. The new agreement would apply to all countries, but many developing nations are resisting language that would indicate a shift in responsibilities.