United Nations reaches historic climate change agreement in Paris

In reality, the agreement is far from all this.

“For China, a responsible developing country, tackling climate change is not only the internal need for promoting its sustainable development, but also a responsibility for building the destiny community of human beings”.

“There is nothing historic about this deal”, said American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The reality, however, lies somewhere in between what the two are saying. All countries will be required to take some action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of economic development, by 2020.

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

The goal can be distilled in one phrase: limit the overall increase in global temperatures to below 2ºC (3.6ºF), compared to the temperatures before the Industrial Revolution kicked in.

The 31-page document adopted in a conference center at the outskirts of the French capital isn’t the end of the fight for our planet’s survival.

“Outcome of #ParisAgreement has no winners or losers”, tweeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But it is not.

Similarly, the Paris agreement underwrites adequate support to developing nations, establishes a global goal to significantly strengthen adaptation to climate change through support and worldwide cooperation.

But the targets themselves will be up to each country to decide, and their implementation will not be legally binding. Some developing countries will also be able to become donors, on a voluntary basis, to help the poorest countries. By 2050, the agreement suggests that man-made emissions should be reduced to a level that forests and oceans can absorb.

He acknowledged that a Republican president could undo the agreement, but said there is already plenty of evidence that climate change is having a damaging and expensive impact with more intense storms, wildfires and melting glaciers. The deal covers both developed and developing countries and was reached after almost two weeks of intense negotiations.

The only fig leaf of differentiation has been maintained in the agreement but is as vague as possible.

Although the Paris Agreement’s long-term goal on global average surface temperatures is more ambitious than anyone really expected, the means to achieve it – by substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide – are less specific, although these can be strengthened over time. “India has got right words like “equity” and “common but differentiated responsibilities” mentioned in many places, but historic responsibility has been completely done away with”. There is no mention of global carbon budget and its equitable use.

Governments agreed to set up a framework for monitoring, measuring and verifying emissions reductions.

A five-year review cycle is part of the agreement, too, where countries meet up to assess and plan once more, on the back of up-to-date environmental research. They argued industrialized nations should shoulder more of the burden.

On the crucial financing issue, developed countries agreed to muster at least $100 billion (92 billion euros) a year from 2020 to help developing nations. Similar promises have been made in the past too, but the Green Climate Fund (GCF) established by United Nations is waiting for dollars to trickle in.