French President Hollande to open UN climate change conference in Paris

President Obama meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Le Bourget, outside Paris, on Monday, Nov. 30, 2015. The Obama administration didn’t specify where the USA dollars would come from.

“Here in Paris, let’s secure an agreement that bills in ambition, where progress paves the way for regularly updated targets”.

Ahead of the conference, which kicks off amid tight security in the wake of the terror attacks in the French capital, more than half a million people are estimated to have marched in cities around the world calling for ambitious action to boost renewable energy and protect vulnerable people.

President Francois Hollande denounced the violence as “scandalous”.

“There is no planet B” and “Our Children Need a Future” read placards held by some of the 50,000 people who turned out in London’s Hyde Park, in scenes replicated across the world.

The UN climate summit formally opened on Sunday afternoon with a minute of silence for the victims of this month’s Paris attacks and vows not to let terrorism derail efforts to slow or stop climate change.

Some 150 leaders from around the world are due to speak from 12 noon onwards on Monday with statements to be delivered simultaneously in two meeting rooms, due to the number of leaders attending.

The UN’s climate chief, Christiana Figueres, says she is confident that a deal will be reached but expects that it will fall short of the 2C goal. “I urge you to instruct your negotiators to choose the path of compromise and consensus”. One reason for optimism is the world’s two biggest emitters, China and the US, both want an agreement.

As global average temperatures soar, they will try to get a handle on the cause.

US President Barack Obama on Sunday said he was “optimistic” about sealing a global climate agreement at the upcoming two-week United Nations conference in Paris.

The police resorted to tear gas and baton charges to contain the crowd. By evening over 200 protesters had been arrested. There is a broad consensus among scientists that global warming is driven by human activity, foremost the burning of fossil fuels.

Australia: reduce emissions by between 26 per cent and 28 per cent of 2005 levels between 2020 and 2030.

Obama also hopes to use the opportunity to have short bilateral meetings with leaders on other issues.

The clashes soured the mood before the start of the talks, known as COP21, aimed at clinching the world’s first universal climate deal to limit global greenhouse gas emissions.