World Awaits Climate Pact After 17:30 UTC (12:30 EST) Today
It’s almost time. Two weeks of intense talks—round-the-clock on three occasions—at the UN COP21 climate summit in Paris may bear fruit in just a few hours.
If delegates adopt a third officially proposed climate text, all countries will have agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Probably not enough to arrest changes within the next three decades or so, but likely to assure a world habitable for humans and perhaps half of other current species in the year 2100.
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, President of the conference, said moments ago that the final draft of the pact, shortened again, was fair and legally binding and would limit warming to “well below 2 degrees C.”
“It’s my deep conviction that we have come up with an ambitious and balanced agreement.”—Laurent Fabius
International delegates in Paris will receive the text proposed by Fabius in all six official UN languages within the hour. The COP will resume at 3:45 UTC (10:45 EST). At that time, having read the text, delegates will discuss it. Leaders hope it will pass unanimously. (See our previous coverage on CleanTechnica here.)
Meanwhile, M. Fabius has suggested that everyone adjourn for lunch. He said nothing about champagne, knowing that official country votes on the climate agreement must still be counted. However, the gist of his speech, emphatically repeated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and French President Francois Hollande, concludes:
“[The new text] confirms our key objective, the objective which is vital, that of continuing to have a mean temperature well below two degrees and to endeavour to limit that increase to one point five degrees.”
The world leaders view it as having surmounted the principal obstacles of differentiation of rich vs. poor nations, the wording of an actual temperature goal, and provision of adequate oversight at intervals following its adoption. The US, through the presence of Secretary of State John Kerry, has promised that the pact will be legally binding despite the sour political attitude of a Republican Congress. All we are waiting for is 196 votes.
(Updated with links 8:42 EST, time 10:28 EST.)
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My quick take here (link). I jumped the gun,assuming that Fabius would not have released the text if it were not a done deal.
Perhaps after agreeing/signing to a global deal/agreement the leaders of all the counties will have a slightly bigger problem:
How to educate a large part of their population that,
1) climate change is real
2) we need to deal with it (NOW)
3) we can deal with it
4) it will benefit the economies and all of us in the short and long term.
Education and the willingness to learn “new” things is at times not given considering human nature, but I am optimistic!
Countries should be slapped down if they attempt to use loss of competitiveness as an argument for not being ambitious in their national objectives.
The global nature of this deal and accounting means there should be no place for polluters to offshore bad behaviour.
Climate change denial seems to be a factor only in those countries where Rupert Murdoch has allowed his media outlets to spread denial talking points.
Interestingly Murdoch, himself, is not a climate change denier. That makes him an incredible sleazeball who willing inflicts major damage to humans in order to earn some more money which he will never be able to spend.
Large majorities in all parts of the world think climate change is real and dangerous – even in the USA, though lower than the average. (Pew.) It’s the political system that lags in recognition, in the imaginary fear of high costs of change, and responding to the dishonest, but entirely realistic and well-heeled, denial-and-delay campaign of fossil fuel interests.
The Paris agreement is an astonishing victory for science and responsibility. Now to make it work.
Bob and James, even in Canada there are still lots of people who do not understand (from reading comments to mainstream media articles) what we need/have to do to stop rising CO 2.
And I am sure that there are people in other places as well who as of now do not understand yet.
World leaders have agreed to exterminate only HALF of Earth’s species.
Think about that.
They all have agreed, but the actual job will be done by US and Asia, the biggest polluters.
Here’s a link to the video stream
http://unfccc6.meta-fusion.com/cop21/channels/plenary-1
Or live updates in text form plus clips: http://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-environment-34922775?live_variant=nonjs
The Indian environment minister (representing India at the talks) appeared to be thrilled at the draft .
Thankfully, the agreement is accepted.