Paris Agreement is a Legally Binding Agreement: Javadekar

If nothing else, we owe this to our children and grandchildren – to inherit a liveable planet with a cleaner future.

It has been hailed as “the end of the fossil fuel era” by some, while others have received it with more caution. In doing so, they have significantly advanced efforts to uphold our Charter mandate to “save succeeding generations”.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Obama is “writing checks he can’t cash and stepping over the middle class to take credit for an “agreement” that is subject to being shredded in 13 months”. I believe it is an example we could gainfully follow across the political agenda.

The draft agreement handed to delegates at the Paris conference repeats the alarmist claims that characterised previous reports, suggesting that the world is experiencing unprecedented rises in the atmospheric temperature, rising sea levels, melting ice caps and more extreme climate events. What is different this time round is that we have a robust agreement, which lays a solid foundation for a more stable and better climate. That is why I have made it a top priority of my tenure. Standing up for climate action is the way we can show solidarity with the world.

Star climate experts also drew big crowds. Leadership from the U.S.in the form of a market-based climate solution can ensure that the promises of Paris are kept.

What was once unthinkable is now unstoppable. Most critical analysts argue that the target should be a 45-60 per cent reduction.

“We should do research on geoengineering, but should only develop policy assuming that it does not work”.

It says: “The extent to which developing countries will effectively implement this agreement will depend on the effective implementation by developed countries of their commitments on the provision of finance, technology development and transfer and capacity-building”.

Many business leaders have praised the climate deal reached Saturday in Paris, saying it will help them steer their companies and the global economy toward a future that limits emissions of the heat-trapping gases that are endangering the planet.

Right now, the main mechanism for reducing emissions are countries’ Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which leave us far short of the 1.5-degree goal that scientists and many vulnerable developing countries are pushing for. Against this backdrop, on December 12th, nearly two hundred nations unanimously committed to greenhouse gas emissions reductions aimed at keeping total warming “to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels”.

Scientific support. Prior worldwide environmental treaties have been effective when they had the active participation of the global scientific community.

The Paris accord is one of those rare moments when every nation acknowledges that, for the good of all, we must act as one.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, said climate change poses one of the greatest threats the world has ever known and that no country acting alone can stem the tide.

The U.S. State Department will be able to deliver its first payment of $500 million to the United Nations Green Climate Fund, after lawmakers agreed on a federal fiscal deal that does not include language to block it.

Governments have agreed to binding, robust, transparent rules of the road to ensure that all countries do what they have said they would do. The developing countries are totally opposed to any such restrictions. And developing countries have assumed increasing responsibility to address climate change in line with their capabilities.

Science can help do that – but in partnership with businesses and civil society.

But securing the agreement at the Le Bourget conference centre on the outskirts of Paris, even a day over deadline, represents a huge achievement.