“History has chosen you here, now”.
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Talks on a universal climate pact shifted to a higher gear Monday, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging governments to set off an “energy revolution” to rein in heat-trapping carbon emissions and avert disastrous global warming.
“The original agreement of most of the world’s governments in 2009 and 2010 to try to stay below two degree was based not on the idea that two degrees is a red line below that we’re safe, and above it we’re cooked”.
Sopoaga said the proposal to include the 1.5°C goal in a Paris agreement is receiving little resistance.
“Otherwise we are going to lock in absolutely low levels of emission (cuts) and what you’ll see is an orgy of coal burning and fossil fuel expansion between now and 2030”.
But it cautioned 2015 was unlikely to be the year in which Carbon dioxide peaks – a glittering objective for climate campaigners – and said emissions would take years to decline “substantively”.
French officials have said the talks will end with a strong outcome and on time on Friday – although climate negotiations typically run over into the early hours of Saturday and even Sunday.
At the start of Week Two an agreement is still hundreds of brackets away – the brackets being the still-contested sections of the 40-plus page draft agreement circulated over the weekend by the French conference hosts.
The event and their trip is sponsored by Guardians of the Aquifer, Nebraska Wildlife Association, Nebraska Chapter of the United Nations Association, Nebraskans for Peace, Bold Nebraska, Energy Linc, Interfaith Power and Light, Nebraska Farmers Union and Citizens Climate Lobby.
“We have a hard week ahead of us… with all the major issues still unsolved”, Luxembourg Environment Minister Carole Dieschbourg told reporters.
“The UAE looks to achieve an agreement with the United Nations that will take action and work towards limiting climate change”. Parties to the UN climate talks set 2 ºC as their goal before the talks began, but small-island states and other vulnerable nations have pushed for the stricter 1.5 ºC target. We must ask ourselves, what kind of world do we want for our children, and our children’s children?
The Paris summit will not result in an agreement unless it can resolve how developed nations handle a promise made in Copenhagen to “mobilise” $100 billion every year from 2020 to help poorer countries adapt to climate change.
But how the promised funds will be raised remains unclear – and developing countries are pushing for a promise that the amount will be ramped up beyond 2020. Among the options being negotiated is initially having different transparency demands for rich and developing nations, with the requirements to converge in the future.
“I am so hopeful that Paris will be a truly historic moment when we will ratify what people all over the world are coming to understand”, he said.
Richer countries are already committed to providing $100 billion a year by 2020; in Paris, the question is how far that annual sum should rise and, most especially, how or whether big emerging economies should contribute.
For poorer countries, the division is a touchstone of solidarity, but among rich economies, it is becoming an anachronism.
During a press conference, Miguel Arias Canete, EU Climate Commissioner, said, “We need the United States on board and we have to find a solution”.
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Nevertheless, he said, countries most at risk could accept a deal with 2C as the formal goal, as long as it makes a reference to the lower 1.5C threshold.
