World leaders are in French capital Paris for discussions on climate change, notabling global warming limit to 2 Celsius.
Close to 150 heads of states and governments are attending in Paris, the UN climate conference known as COP21. The aim of this high level conference is to forge a deal to limit global warming to 2C°. Secondly, the presentation by all countries of their national contributions prior to COP21, in order to generate momentum and demonstrate that all States are moving forward, based on their national realities, in the same direction. Another point shall be the financial aspect, which should enable support for developing countries and financing of the transition towards low-carbon, resilient economies before and after 2020. And the last but not the least, the strengthening of the commitments of civil society and non-governmental stakeholders and the multi-partner initiatives of the Agenda of Solutions or Lima-Paris Action Agenda , in order to involve all stakeholders and begin concrete actions prior to the entry into force of the future agreement in 2020.
Official delegates hope to secure a legally binding accord for every country to cut carbon emissions as reports unfold.
The said accord needs to come into effect from the year 2020, when current commitments from the Kyoto Protocol run out. The ongoing deal as expressed by several heads of states and governments could be reached. Barack Obama of the US expressed however his optimism at the start of this grand stand.
The talks hope to resolve the concerns of large developing countries, such as India, that say they are dependent on fossil fuels to spur economic growth, and richer countries, which are moving towards adopting cleaner energy sources but continue to be a big source of emissions.
Smaller and poorer countries that are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change are pressing for a deal that prioritizes their safety.
By Elise Kenimbeni
