UN wants world leaders to sign climate deal on April 22

ENVIRONNENT ministers on both sides of the border have hailed the worldwide climate change deal struck in Paris. The plan also calls for more incentives for renewable energy and $ 100-billion to developing nations, which are dealing with the effects of climate change.

In addition, the agreement says that global greenhouse gas emissions should peak “as soon as possible”, achieving net zero carbon emissions – where human emissions are completely offset by the carbon absorption by forests and oceans – “in the second half of this century”. 11 in Paris, more than 190 countries came together to adopt what the White House is calling the most ambitious climate change agreement in history. Nations of the world have underlined that climate change is a threat to the security and prosperity of all societies, and can only be addressed through unity of goal.

Global temperatures increased by about 1 degree Celsius since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, and experts said curbing the overall increase at 1.5 degrees could already be impossible.

The agreement builds on the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted by 188 countries in advance of the conference, in which they set out their envisaged post-2020 climate actions. The sentiment of “trust but verify” holds true for our continued collective work on climate policy and progress. Signatories to the Agreement agreed to “Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change”. “This agreement represents the best chance we’ve had to save the one planet that we’ve got”. In this follow-up to our preliminary coverage of the final deal, we’ll look more closely at the terms of the agreement and what the deal will mean for the world in the coming years. “But make no mistake, the Paris agreement establishes the enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis”.

“The governments did not create a climate change police force”, he said.

UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd said: “We have witnessed an important step forward, with an unprecedented number of countries agreeing to a deal to limit global temperature rises and avoid the worst impacts of climate change”. More importantly, differentiation for developed and developing countries are mentioned across all pillars of action – mitigation, adaption, finance, technology capacity and transparency. The Paris deal is said to provide a set of diplomatic tools aimed at prodding countries into cutting emissions even deeper over time. Developing countries, including China and India, had pushed for two separate accounting systems – a more stringent one for rich countries, a more lenient one for poor countries. “I believe this will continue because I just personally can not believe that any person who doesn’t understand the science and isn’t prepared to do for the next generation what we did here today and follow through on it can not and will not be elected president of the United States”.

The Obama administration says tackling climate change will require shifting global investment flows toward clean energy, forest protection and climate-resilient infrastructure.

“This agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is firmly committed to a low-carbon future”, said Obama in a televised speech.