More likely it will be like its predecessors, lost in the dustbin of history.
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Ebtekar highlighted the need for the accord to be equitable and inclusive, deeming the participation of over 180 nations in reaching the agreement the “greatest global agreement” and a “remarkable victory” for multilateralism and moderation.
Bill McKibben, global warming activist and founder of 350.org, said the agreement “didn’t save the planet, but it may have saved the chance of saving the planet”.
On the basis of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, developed countries agreed to raise 100 billion US dollars a year by 2020 to help developing countries transform their economies.
Ben Strauss, a sea level researcher at Climate Central, said limiting warming to 1.5 degrees instead of 2 degrees could potentially cut in half the projected 280 million people whose houses will eventually be submerged by rising seas.
In the years-long quest for a pact to commit all the world’s nations to greenhouse gas curbs, Beijing and New Delhi have often clashed with the United States and other developed nations in the UN climate forum.
This one isn’t exactly a number… but it’s the target time for “global peaking” of climate change emissions. “China will actively assume the obligations suited to its conditions and stage of development, continue to achieve the goals of dealing with climate change before 2020, actively implement independent contributions, and reach the peak of carbon emissions”.
The first step will be a stock-taking in 2018, two years before the agreement enters into force, of the overall impact of countries’ progress in abandoning fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas in favour of renewable sources like solar and wind.
All that can save this movement is an extreme weather event (to be blamed, as always, on climate change) – or climate activists’ decision to try something new rather than repeat the tactics that have failed so often despite so much effort.
The world has come together around an agreement that will empower us to chart a new path for our planet.
The energy industry is already saying Saturday’s Paris global warming agreement is “unenforceable, underfunded, and non-binding”.
World leaders have hailed the 11th-hour climate deal reached in Paris on Saturday, claiming it provides the “best chance we have” of saving the planet from catastrophic climate change. “Mahatma Gandhiji used to say that ‘we have not inherited earth from our ancestors, but we have it on loan from future generations”, Javadekar said. Whether or not this becomes a true turning point for the world, though, depends critically on how seriously countries follow through.
“But this ambitious temperature goal is not matched by an equally ambitious mitigation goal”, he said, using the scientific term for the drawing-down of heat-trapping gases. There is money for poor countries to adapt; there is a strong review mechanism to increase ambition over time.
Effects of climate change are awful. “In Paris, there have been many revolutions over the centuries”.
“The heart of the deal is emissions monitoring”. If it delivers that, it truly will be world changing.
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“It’s rare in life to be able to move things forward at the planet level”, Fabius said, visibly moved after coming out of the plenary room. The Eiffel Tower in Paris was illuminated with that phrase Friday night.
