And it involves diplomacy that explains how non-binding global agreements can still be binding domestically, because the president is enforcing the Clean Air Act, Purvis said.
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For good reason: More than two decades of United Nations climate summit meetings have yielded limited results. The United Nations is seeking to limit global warming to 2C (3.6F) above pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Critics of this say the deal will fail to have teeth, but supporters of it say that the accord, if endorsed by all parties, will still be politically “binding”, and thus effective.
“This time around, we really know that we’ve pretty much run out of time, meaning we do not have the luxury of endless further negotiating rounds”, Mehling warned.
The upcoming Paris climate conference is one of the most important worldwide efforts in recent years.
Climate acitivists image via Shutterstock.
In addition to the new dynamics for global cooperation on climate action wrought by the INDCs, the new deal will also be universal, a significant departure from the Kyoto Protocol that only mandate emissions cuts from a specific list of developed countries.
Fabius met with Kerry Wednesday, after Kerry was quoted in the Financial Times saying that the deal due to be finalized next month is “definitively not going to be a treaty”.
In just a few weeks, on November 30, 2015, those same nations will be reconvening in Paris, with more than three-quarters of the expected Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) already submitted for review, and with the rest likely showing up before the start of the conference.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of an occasional series focusing on the science, the costs and the challenges of climate change around the world ahead of a critical summit in Paris. “We are all aware of the impact of climate change and we can not be the first generation to knowingly turn away from our responsibilities to protect the planet”, the C of E’s lead bishop on the environment, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury, told the pilgrims and a congregation of supporters at a service in St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, before the pilgrimage got underway.
Any global climate change deal reached in Paris next month will be legally binding and have a concrete impact, France’s foreign minister said on Thursday, reacting to USA comments that questioned the status of the accord. This necessitates defending the legal rights of developing countries under the convention, including to receive the support they require to make the transition to a low carbon economy and to adapt to the reality of a climate that is already changing and the loss and damage that is associated with this.
The Paris conference must be a watershed moment, leading us into an era of green economic development and opportunity. “But we do not want to compromise our national development trajectory to achieve economic growth, fight poverty and boost living standards of the people”, Arif Ahmed Khan emphasized.
“Lots of provisions that circle around the (emissions) targets, but not the targets themselves”, he added.
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Seventy four percent of executives at companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenues, and 61 percent of all respondents, see a long-term agreement in Paris as critical to unlocking private-sector investment in climate solutions.
