French trust in Hollande grows after Paris attacks

“Our sunshine should do more than nourish our crops, it must light up our homes”, African Development Bank President Akinwumi A. Adesina said Tuesday at the formal launch of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which was announced during the worldwide climate talks in Paris.

Global warming is expected to hit 1 degree C this year.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum declaration also called for the Paris agreement to enshrine an global mechanism to address unavoidable climate-linked “loss and damage”, such as the effects of rising seas and creeping deserts.

The president, in his first visit to France since the Paris massacre, reflected on the collection of heads of state for the climate conference, asking “what greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it?” The world community is capable of dealing with more than one challenge at a time.

“Though Africa is not responsible for emitting greenhouse gases, it is suffering the consequences of climate change”, Holland said.

Obama, due to arrive in the French capital late Sunday, and more than 150 world leaders are gathering for the opening days of a two-week conference where countries are trying to negotiate an agreement aimed at avoiding a destructive increase in global temperatures.

“Climate change is not of our making”, he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama listens to remarks by Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at the start of the two-week climate summit in Paris November 30, 2015.

Now, deprived of the “U.S. can’t act alone” argument, the opponents have taken a new tack: It’s insane to focus on the long-term threat from climate change when we should be concentrating on the more immediate threat from radical Islamic terrorism.

More than 180 countries have pledged to cut or curb their emissions, but scientists say much bigger reductions are needed to limit man-made warming of the Earth to 2 degrees Centigrade (3.8 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times, the internationally agreed-upon goal.

It is hoped that the pledge, along with one by 19 countries, including the United States, to double their investments in energy technologies to $20 billion by 2020, will help convince poor countries that they will be given significant help in making a transition to a new economic model that relies less on the use of carbon.

The money will be made available to a fund for the least developed countries hosted by the Global Environment Facility, a major funder of environment projects worldwide.