I am proud of the role Canada is playing in reaching this historic and balanced agreement, and I am confident that the world will rise to the challenge of addressing climate change.
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“The Paris agreement on climate change is a monumental success for the planet and its people”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
“We are happy to note that all concerns of India have been taken on board”, Javdekar said.
The Paris agreement commits countries to keeping the rise in global temperatures by the year 2100 compared with pre-industrial times “well below” 2C and “endeavour to limit” them even more, to 1.5C.
After the 2020 reductions kick in, it’s not over: The deal is created to evolve as the years pass. Every five years, specifically, each nation’s targets will be reevaluated to move the world closer to the 2-degree target. Along with the provinces and territories, we will work with a wide array of stakeholders – and all Canadians – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including through carbon pricing.
China earlier said rich developed countries needed to offer more financial support to developing countries.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius presented a landmark global climate accord on Saturday, a “historic” measure for transforming the world’s fossil fuel-driven economy within decades and turn the tide on global warming. And it says nothing about the world’s production of oil and coal, the major sources of carbon emissions (though it does tip off investors that renewables are the future).
Scientists consider 2 C the threshold to limit potentially catastrophic climate change. Thailand set a goal of reducing emissions by 20% from current levels, and up to 25% with worldwide assistance.
“The Agreement also ensures provisions to “minimise” and “address” the adverse effects associated with loss and damage from climate change, including extreme weather events, and mandates the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage to facilitate cooperation in this area”, he said.
“That accomplishment encouraged dozens and dozens of other nations to set their own ambitious climate targets”.
“It means that in the end, you have to phase out carbon dioxide”, said John Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
Still, he remained optimistic.
“The problem’s not solved because of this accord, but make no mistake, the Paris agreement establishes the enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis”, he said.
None of the top Republican presidential candidates nor Republican leaders in Congress had commented on the deal on Twitter as of 6pm Eastern (1100 GMT) Saturday.
Obama has long sought to make combating climate change a significant part of his domestic presidential legacy but has been stymied by Congress, which hasn’t approached significant legislative action on climate change since a cap-and-trade bill failed in 2009 and 2010.
The intentional flexibility of the Paris agreement was constructed not only to accommodate the diversity of 195 national interests.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Obama is “making promises he can’t keep, writing checks he can’t cash, and stepping over the middle class to take credit for an “agreement” that is subject to being shredded in 13 months”.
