The accord achieved one major goal.
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The 31-page draft of the “Paris Agreement” stated that it “aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change…by holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius [3.6 Fahrenheit] above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius [2.7 Fahrenheit]”.
“That single number, and the new goal of net zero emissions by the second half of this century, will cause consternation in the boardrooms of coal companies and the palaces of oil-exporting states”, Greenpeace International chief Kumi Naidoo said.
The deal also calls for a review of each country’s progress every 5 years.
“Today we reassure our future generation that we all will mitigate the challenge posed by climate change and give them a better future”.
Instead, the agreement calls for the creation of a committee of experts to “facilitate implementation” and “promote compliance” with the agreement, but it won’t have the power to punish violators.
Developing nations have been promised $100 billion a year by 2020 – not as much as many countries would like.
The expectations of the scientific and environmental activist communities are also not very high.
“This didn’t save the planet”, Bill McKibben, the co-founder of 350.org, said of the agreement. Obama desribed the accord as the best chance to save the planet.
And while China is now the No. 1 carbon dioxide polluter with more than a quarter of the world’s emissions, carbon dioxide stays in the air for at least a century, so historical emissions are important.
“This agreement is no more binding than any other “agreement” from any Conference of the Parties over the last 21 years”. “The Prime Minister appreciated this gesture of French President”, a PMO statement said. “This deal embodies the strength of the French nation”. The agreement says all countries must report on their emissions and their efforts the reduce them.
“In striking this deal, the nations of the world have shown what unity, ambition and perseverance can do”. “The targets aren’t binding”.
The Paris Agreement and the outcomes of COP21 cover all the crucial areas identified as essential for a landmark conclusion: mitigation – reducing emissions fast enough to achieve the temperature goal; a transparency system and global stock-take – accounting for climate action; adaptation – strengthening ability of countries to deal with climate impacts; loss and damage – strengthening ability to recover from climate impacts; and support – including finance, for nations to build clean, resilient futures. Taking credit for his administration, he said the following.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, reacted to the climate pact Saturday.
Will be obliged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’ve agreed to what we ought to be doing, but no one yet has agreed to go do it”, said Dennis Clare, a negotiator for the Federated States of Micronesia.
The official signing ceremony will take place at the beginning of 2016 at the UN’s headquarters in NY.
These lobbyist groups will find themselves “on the wrong side of history”, she said, while emphasizing the positive changes being welcomed from other sectors of the economy.
Leaders around the world praised passage of the agreement. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon praised Fabius’ “leadership”.
“The era of renewable energy is upon us”.
“Nous sommes la nature qui se défend!” read one tweet, with a photo of one person dressed as a polar bear and another dressed as a penguin. That’s because the less we pollute, the less pollution nature absorbs.
According to Munic, the text proposes that countries reach an increase of 2-degrees Celsius, and even below that at 1.5, but the proposed actions “are going to fail to deliver that target”. Those levels have been generally rising since the industrial revolution.
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This will no doubt provide the impetus many in the Commission and European Parliament need to trigger the flexibility clause and set the ball rolling for a renegotiation of the 40pc target.
