No winners or losers in climate deal: PM Modi

Terming as historic and a major initiative to save the planet Earth, World leaders have all welcomed the climate deal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing it as a victory of “climate justice” while the pact evoked mixed reactions from environmentalists.

He called the deal, almost a decade in the making, “a break-away agreement which actually changes the paradigm by which countries are making judgments about this”. Human rights are also referenced in the preamble. Fabius joined and raised hands with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others in a gesture of triumph and celebration. For the first time ever 195 countries, including the world’s largest emitters, have now committed to act together to combat climate change and be held equally accountable.

Tom Ballantine, chairman of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, who was in Paris as an observer, criticised “the failure to reach a strong, ambitious deal”. “It will be up to business, consumers, citizens and particularly investors to finish the job”.

Without urgent action, they warned, mankind faced increasingly severe droughts, floods and storms, and rising seas that would engulf islands and coastal areas populated by hundreds of millions of people.

“The 12th of December, 2015, will remain a great date for the planet”. The deal that was struck in France may not have a settled way of reaching its goal, but it does represent a critical turning point in the fight against global warming.

On the one hand, the Paris Agreement includes working on strengthening the technology mechanism to support the implementation of the agreement through focusing on research, development and demonstration to develop and enhance endogenous capacities and technologies.

Ending the vicious circle requires a switch to cleaner sources, such as solar and wind, and improving energy efficiency.

Buoyed by the universal climate rescue accord, the Philippines also expressed its resolve to fulfill its own pledge to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as part of the worldwide agreement.

Another issue, according to observers, was whether there would be compensation is paid to countries that will see irreparable damage from climate change but have done nearly nothing to cause it.

“Let’s just imagine for a moment what we would have to say to our grandchildren if we failed”, asked British Prime Minister David Cameron.

THERE has been so much failure and compromise on tackling climate change in the last 20 years that it is hard to believe it when the worldwide community really does make progress.

Research shows that global energy demands are growing. By some point after 2050, the agreement says, man-made emissions should be reduced to a level that forests and oceans can absorb. However, it didn’t raise a formal objection, so it is still a party to the Paris deal. But, they need to be small enough to be able to remove greenhouse gases successfully from the air. Strengthening the ability to recover from climate change impacts.

China’s chief negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, agreed that the Paris plan was not ideal but he added that “this does not prevent us from marching historical steps forward”.

The final draft of the agreement was circulated several hours before the meeting concluded, after an all-night work session in which the text was shortened from 43 to 31 pages and simplified.