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Paris Climate Conferences Closes With Landmark Agreement To Lessen Global Warming

Noting that the agreement unequivocally acknowledges the imperative of climate justice, Mr Bishnoi said the deal based itself on the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities.

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The pact does not bind countries to a specific carbon emission level, DOGO News reported.

The Paris Agreement did include a section that raises the prospects of greater use of carbon markets and carbon pricing mechanisms, but it stopped short of backing calls for a global carbon pricing system. The agreement will come into force in 2020.

He noted that the Paris Agreement complements the 2030 Development Agenda and taken together, both the outcomes mark a new beginning for global cooperation to protect the health of the planet and ensure a life of dignity to all people. Against this backdrop, on December 12th, nearly two hundred nations unanimously committed to greenhouse gas emissions reductions aimed at keeping total warming “to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels”. Everything they do from now on must be measured against that goal.

Next April the United Nations will issue guidance rating how far the 187 national climate plans now submitted will slow global warming.

But congressional negotiators on Tuesday wrapped up a sprawling deal to keep the US government operating through next September, while setting new policies, including repealing a 40-year-old ban on oil exports in exchange for a multi-year extension of wind and solar tax credits.

“Despite this weekend’s agreement… we think a continuation of global energy consumption trends seems more likely than a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels”, says ClearView’s Book.

The third main component of the agreement, which continues to be the subject of heavy discussion, refers to participating countries’ own targets to decrease carbon and peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and to achieve a balance between sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of the 21 century.

The Paris Agreement preamble (which is not binding) includes a goal of developed countries funding a $100 billion transitional fund to help developing countries become developed without a heavy reliance on cheap fossil fuels. “Benny Peiser, director of London-based think-tank Global Warming Policy Forum, called it a “non-binding and toothless United Nations climate agreement”.

The minister said the Paris accord is a very successful agreement from the viewpoint of saving the earth. It recognises the right of developing countries to development and their efforts to harmonise development with environment, while protecting the interests of the most vulnerable, he added.

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This landmark pledge is a clear signal that the message sent by the negotiations has been received loud and clear and that cities, regions, business, investors and other non-state actors are now ready and willing to stand shoulder to shoulder, alongside governments, to implement the terms of the agreement.

Editorial, 12/16: Assessing the climate pact