Well, the much anticipated COP21 UN Climate Change Conference, which took place in Paris, was reported to reach a global agreement to tackle climate change, an outcome which is supposed to represent a major landmark in addressing this global challenge.

In the Paris Agreement, adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), world leaders agreed to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2°C, in order to avoid dangerous climate change.

Among the key measures in the Paris Agreement, global leaders have agreed:

• to peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and achieve a balance between sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century;
• to keep global temperature increase ‘well below’ 2°C, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C;
• to review progress (upwards) every five years – a robust transparency and accountability system will track progress towards the long-term goal;
• $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020, with a commitment to further finance in the future.

So what now? Would the countries involved rectified the agreement and undertake serious measures to address climate change? That’s to be seen…

Source: UNFCCC COP21

18 Dec 2015