History was made on Saturday night in Paris.
Advertisement
Close to 200 countries are part of the deal to limit global average warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
“Despite the failure to reach a strong, ambitious deal in Paris, we can take hope from the fact that change is happening”.
Similarly, the Paris agreement underwrites adequate support to developing nations, establishes a global goal to significantly strengthen adaptation to climate change through support and worldwide cooperation.
The final draft of the agreement was circulated several hours before the meeting concluded, after an all-night work session in which the text was shortened from 43 to 31 pages and simplified. This shows the United Kingdom is playing its part towards helping mobilise the $100 billion by 2020 climate finance goal from public and private sources, alongside others. “India has got right words like “equity” and “common but differentiated responsibilities” mentioned in many places, but historic responsibility has been completely done away with”. Speaking after the deal’s adoption, Javadekar said, “This (deal) recognizes development imperatives of India and is happy that it acknowledges climate justice, CBDR and equity”. The Indonesian delegation, for instance, wanted a review mechanism that would force developed nations to account for their climate change mitigation efforts.
At the UN General Assembly in September, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced a significant uplift in the UK’s climate finance of at least 50% with a £5.8 billion over the next 5 years, including £1.76 billion in 2020; from £3.87 billion between 2011 and 2016.
In Paris on Saturday, 196 member states of the United Nations signed an important agreement aimed at preventing risky climate change, reports Paul Brown from the Climate News Network.
French President Francois Hollande told the assembled delegates: “You’ve done it, reached an ambitious agreement, a binding agreement, a universal agreement. You can be proud to stand before your children and grandchildren”.
Under the agreement, countries will submit updated climate plans – called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – every five years, thereby steadily increasing their ambition in the long-term.
But the temperature target – a considerable victory for vulnerable small island states and other low-lying countries threatened by rising sea levels – carries its own clout; it will become the benchmark by which the voluntary pledges made by countries to cut their emissions will be judged over time.
Modi said that the outcome of Paris Agreement has no winners or losers and climate justice has won.
“#ClimateChange remains a challenge but #ParisAgreement demonstrates how every nation rose to the challenge, working towards a solution”, the PM said in another tweet. From Charles, the Prince of Wales, to US President Barack Obama, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Chinese President Xi Jinping, all are professing their belief that unless the countries of the world agree to cap the rise of the earth’s surface temperature to no more than 2° Celsius, we are heading toward planetary doom.
Advertisement
The president also said that while those who oppose taking action to limit carbon emissions say that doing so will “kill jobs”, the agreement will actually create “more of the jobs and economic growth driven by low-carbon investment”.
