Obama says he’s confident the world will forge a major climate change agreement in the coming weeks.
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Whether the climate agreement under negotiation should be legally binding or not is one of the most contentious issues here and the United States is very clear that it does not want the outcome from Paris to be legally binding.
“I worry about the economic impact for our country”, Bush said.
A successful outcome for the United Nations climate talks will include a “legally binding” mechanism to ensure countries adhere to their carbon reduction commitments, Obama said at a press conference before heading back to Washington.
Representatives from over 190 countries are gathering in Paris for the 21st annual Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The strategy mirrors Obama’s efforts on the domestic political front, where – facing a wall of opposition in Congress – he has used his existing authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
While some commentators are already lamenting that a legally binding agreement seems out of reach, there are other legal mechanisms that could still meet that goal.
In a series of some 150 opening speeches at the heavily guarded facility on the outskirts of Paris, most heads of state and prime ministers offered condolences to their French hosts, pivoting quickly, sometimes awkwardly, to the climate talks. Bill Gates and 29 other billionaires took advantage of the timing to announce the largest private fund in history. We’ve multiplied wind power threefold, and solar power more than twentyfold, helping create parts of America where these clean power sources are finally cheaper than dirtier, conventional power. “There is more instability and uncertainty on the worldwide stage”, Xi said.
China said the BASIC countries would not allow the basic principles and provisions of the Convention (UNFCCC) to be ignored or sidelined, especially those that related to equity and the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called climate change “one of the greatest threats humanity is facing”.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) says Obama is pushing an agenda in Paris, regardless of facts and regardless of the wishes of the American people.
To reach this goal, climate experts estimate that GHG’s need to be reduced by 40 to 70 percent by 2050 and carbon neutrality (zero emissions) by 2100 at the latest. A day after world leaders pledged to tame global warming, bureaucrats from 195 nations scrambled to shape a labyrinthine 54-page text into a blueprint that can be approved by December 11.
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There is a broad consensus among scientists that global warming is driven by human activity, foremost the burning of fossil fuels.
