Obama leaves Paris, climate legacy in mind

150 world leaders have gathered in Paris this week not to coalesce around a plan of attack to take out ISIL, but to tackle climate change and back in the United States, the Republicans battling to represent America on the global stage are left mocking the historic summit while Republican legislators in Washington, D.C. work to subvert any progress on the issue.

“The process, the procedures, that ensures transparency and periodic reviews, that needs to be legally binding”, Obama said.

Everyone at the Paris climate talks wants to walk away with some type of legally binding agreement to reduce climate change.

President Obama is copping to the U.S.’ role in creating climate change.

On Tuesday US House Republicans blocked Obama’s regulations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a move he will likely veto but which highlights the intense domestic opposition he is facing to committing the United States to any global framework.

During the 30-minute sit-down, Obama expressed regret over Turkey’s shoot-down of a Russian plane that Turkey said had entered its airspace from Syria, said Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“I am confident in the wisdom of the American people on that front”, he added.

“I think it’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen, or perhaps most naïve”, Trump said. “Your credibility and America’s ability to influence events depends on taking seriously what other countries care about”.

“Whoever is the next president of the United States, if they come in and they suggest somehow that global consensus – not just 99.5 percent of scientists and experts, but 99 percent of world leaders – think this is really important, I think the president of the United States is going to need to think this is really important”, he said.

The question of whether the worldwide climate agreement would be binding was a major point of contention in the lead up to the Paris talks.

The problem right now is – current commitments, by most accounts, won’t be enough meet the target of holding an increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius.

On Monday, the leaders of China, India, Zimbabwe and many other developing nations also told the summit rich nations must shoulder the biggest burden, and they should still be able to pollute more so they can fight poverty.

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson are the frontrunners in the Republican party.

“I think it’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen, or perhaps most naïve”, Trump said.