Leaders of warming Earth meet in Paris to cut emissions

President Obama on Tuesday defended his decision to go to Paris for climate talks just weeks after the Islamic State killed 130 Parisians, and said climate change needs to be tackled immediately because it affects everything else in the world.

The president, wrapping up two days of talks with world leaders aimed at reducing carbon emissions, said the summit has “accomplished a lot”.

The COP 21 summit, also referred to as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, concludes on December 11, with the aim to “achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below [two-degrees Celsius]”, which equates to 35-degrees Fahrenheit.

“An worldwide climate deal must be based on equity and science”, Benjamin Schreiber, the climate and energy program director for Friends of the Earth U.S. said in a statement.

“Our grandchildren would ask why it was so hard”, he said, before listing how progress had been made in delivering climate policy, such as financing, carbon budgets and technological research and development.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Pope Francis donated their shoes to stand in solidarity with the people of Paris, according to the United Nations.

But issues that plagued the 1997 Kyoto Protocol could still pose difficulties, including the relative responsibility of countries that did not contribute to the bulk of emissions in the past but are on track to becoming the biggest polluters.

Obama says the specific targets each country is setting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may not have the force of treaties. “We can not afford indecision, half measures or merely gradual approaches”.

“There’s a reason why you have the largest gathering of world leaders probably in human history here in Paris”, Mr. Obama said. The United States has complained bitterly about cyberattacks against the U.S. emanating from China, and Obama has spoken out regularly against China’s assertive moves in disputed waters in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

Our president has also commended the French people and government for their continuous efforts in holding the conference, undeterred by the recent terrorist attacks that took place nearly a week ago.

French President Francois Hollande noted that “never have the stakes been so high because this is about the future of the planet, the future of life”.

Points of contention include agreeing on a systematic review of emissions-curbing pledges and ramping up climate funding for poor countries so that it reaches a promised $100 billion a year by 2020, and the legal status of the accord itself.