Paris climate deal is ‘best chance’ to save planet

The adoption of the Global Climate Change Agreement (COP21) means nations now have between April 22, 2016 and April 21, 2017 to adopt the agreement as per their domestic legal frameworks.

But the agreement has been criticized as not doing enough to protect vulnerable populations living near coasts and not being demanding enough to reduce global warming.

President Obama commented after the Paris Agreement was finalized, stating that “this agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is fully committed to a low-carbon future”.

“We appreciate the efforts that all parties have made, especially host country France”, Hong Lei said Sunday.

The deal, called the Paris Agreement, includes commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions from individual nations. Despite the doubt, President Obama is already celebrating the deal, as shown by the Tweet below.

Countries will also have to report transparently on their progress, and every five years nations will assess their progress and submit new plans.

The accord aims to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial times, with an additional pledge to get it closer to 1.5C.

“Communities need to continue organizing and holding their elected officials accountable so that they ultimately deliver the solutions we all need”, said Wenonah Hauter.

The Paris deal was described by senior administration officials Saturday as a “hybrid agreement” where parts of the agreement, such as the transparency of countries sharing their carbon emissions, would be legally binding. The text commits global leaders to keeping temperature rise to “well below 2 degrees Celsius”.

“And Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma said that Americans can expect the administration to cite the agreement as an excuse for establishing emission targets for every sector of the US economy”.

The Chinese foreign ministry paraphrased Obama as saying the USA is willing to work together with China and all parties to ensure the agreement will go into effect and be implemented.

“Today, we can look into the eyes of our children and grandchildren, and we can finally say, tell them that we have joined hands to bequeath a more habitable world to them and to future generations”.

Environment groups said the Paris agreement was a turning point in history and spelt the demise of the fossil fuel industry, pointing particularly to the significance of the 1.5C goal.