Global climate pledges enough to limit warming, but

Mitigation ambition level Many countries, including Bangladesh, have prepared and submitted their national climate change plans (called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs in UNFCCC’s jargon).

CSE has urged parties to keep the big picture of limiting global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius in mind at the final rounds of negotiations in December in Paris, and ensuring that countries, particularly the developed nations, do not exceed their entitled atmospheric carbon space.

Obama is trying to cut emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, a pledge the administration has made in the run-up to final negotiations in Paris next month on a global climate deal. It is being held under the theme: “Sustainable Development and Climate change: prospects of Paris and beyond” which VP Mnangagwa said was carefully selected.

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) tend to be those that are disproportionately affected by climate change, but also the ones that have the weakest and least sophisticated voice.

The writer is Director, global Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh.

The Paris negotiations are supposed to be the mother of all climate negotiations.

The report bases its finding on the latest Energy Information Administration projections that show the USA will emit 5.49 billion tons of greenhouse gases by 2020. Its teams worked closely with the respective national governments on the selection of fair and ambitious levels of climate change action that are in line with climate goals as well as with their national circumstances and levels of capacity, preparedness and ambition.

Acknowledging this didn’t go far enough, the United Nations climate chief said “dramatic” changes were still required over the next five to 10 years and urged negotiators in Paris not to be “irresponsible”.

A growing number of companies are calling for clear rules on cutting carbon emissions, to avoid “knee-jerk changes” later on that would be more expensive to implement, business participants said at the conference. “It is quite manageable”, she said.

“Most agreements are done in secret”, Williams said. While developing countries insist that the text contains an explicit reference to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” and the historic responsibility of developed countries to take lead in reducing emissions, developed countries want to move away from this distinction.

“We will all do our part for it”, he said.

Nearly everyone agrees on the need to periodically review pledges and ramp them up until the 2C goal comes into view. Developing nations say their price for a deal is the fulfilment of promises from rich nations to stump up $100 billion a year by 2020 to help them limit their emissions and adapt to extreme weather. “But insurers also have another critical role to play: helping to support the transition to a low carbon world through responsible investments and in how they price risks associated with renewable energy and energy efficient homes”.