COP 21 Agreement reached
AT last a deal has been reached to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, something that has been eluding us for almost twenty years. But not all are happy with the deal, and understandably so. But to reach a perfect agreement in any matter, let alone on environment and climate, in an imperfect world is perhaps asking too much of the 190 or so countries of the globe with each having its own national interest to uphold. But that the conference of parties (COP) in Paris managed to reach a deal by overcoming the hurdle that had stood in the way of an agreement in Copenhagen in 2009 is a great step forward. It is the first time that all countries have committed to cut carbon emissions.
Although the treaty is only partly legally binding we would hope that individual countries, particularly the developed ones that are responsible for much of the global warming, would play its due role to ensure that the objective to limit global warming to well below 2 degree Celcius above pre-industrial levels is attained and the stated assurance to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degree Celcius is not lost sight of. The highly ambitious deal must be matched by political commitments if it is to be delivered.
Further, if the success of the deal is predicated on actually keeping the global warming to the intended level, one would be very interested to see the detail action plan at the global level to achieve the goal.
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