Climate change pact worth celebrating, but it’s just a start

Firstly, as a long-term goal, all countries will try to keep the rise in global temperature to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, the level that is likely to eliminate the worst effects of climate change, and to pursue efforts to limit the increase in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The emotional scenes in Paris when the agreement was adopted speak volumes about the sheer relief those deeply engaged in the process felt at getting a meaningful climate deal over the line. The conference was deemed to be crucial as the resultant agreement would be binding on all the countries. We need to kickstart effective change in our social, economic, energy and transport systems nationally, regionally and globally.

On the Paris Climate Agreement16 Dec 2015Activist Bill McKibben was a visible presence during the climate conference in Paris, urging for strong action.

In Asia, particularly, the agreement will have significant impact, said Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, director of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s European Union Office.

COP21 in Paris saw a raft of impressive announcements from sub-national governments which clearly illustrate their ambitious commitment to act on climate and invest in low carbon growth.

When the Paris talks started on November 30, Stern sensed some countries were ready to settle on a “minimalist” agreement that would leave key issues to be resolved in the future. The first is that the cost of sharp emission reductions will be much less than even optimists used to assume – dire warnings from the right used to be mostly nonsense, but now they’re complete nonsense.

Supporting policies: Climate treaties have generally been silent on explicit policy proposals.

The Paris agreement provides a timetable for increasing the ambition of countries’ emissions pledges as technology improves and experience accumulates.

Finance: Finance has always been seen as a political sticking point in climate change negotiations. For instance, the provision for a $100 billion dollars per year financial aid from developed countries to developing economies is a voluntary initiative and not binding on developed nations.

The new norm now is all the countries of the world agree that fossil fuels must be phased out and clean energy should be built up as quickly as possible. He also said that the launch of the International Solar Alliance by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and the French President Mr. Francois Hollande was well-received. Each of the countries are under no obligation to achieve their targets, although the pact obliges the governments to take domestic measures to meet their goals. We are here to support them.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Obama is “writing checks he can’t cash and stepping over the middle class to take credit for an “agreement” that is subject to being shredded in 13 months”. The public will ultimately hold firms and governments accountable for introducing ambitious new plans over time, and implementing them.

Of course, this jump was neatly placed after both the Paris Agreement as well as a buyout offer from a Buyer Group including the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Mr Jifan Gao.

Governments set targets, but it is local government and the private sector that carry them out on the ground.

In Paris, rich countries, instead of stepping forward and coming up with firm commitments to fight warming, abdicated their responsibility to powerful multi-national corporations.

“We will be holding them to account with the millions of people who marched in cities all around the world so that risky warming is averted and the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities get the support that they need”.

And achieving those emission targets would definitely hurt some powerful special interests, since it would mean leaving most of the world’s remaining fossil fuels in the ground, never to be burned. The IEA or the G20 are plausible venues for strong worldwide cooperation on energy R&D. We already have the technology to create greener economies.