Paris climate talks set new goals for fighting climate change
Thursday, delegates at the Paris talks on climate change released a draft agreement far more optimistic and ambitious than many were expecting.
This new draft includes a demand from less wealthy countries that are punished with the worst effects of climate change: “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C, recognizing that this would significantly reduce risks and impacts of climate change.”
This excerpt shows that the delegates recognize that limiting the temperature increase even more would have a more substantial effect on climate change, particularly in the poorer communities that often suffer the most from climate change.
Potsdam Institue scientist John Schellnhuber, explained that there was a specific scientific rationale for the draft agreement including 1.5C.
“When I have looked into tipping points of the climate system, you discover the real dangers start around 1.5C, 2C,” he said. “We can say we are entering the risk zone at 1.5C.”
These new boundaries set a low precedent for temperature changes that require intervention.
Meanwhile, Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, indicated that the climate talks would conclude Saturday, December 12, instead of Friday, as had previously been planned.
““I will not present the text Friday evening, as I had thought, but Saturday morning,” he said. “There is still work to do. Things are going in the right direction.”
This delay is a small one, and comes following the two back-to-back overnight sessions delegates held to try and come up with the new international climate agreement.
Even with the delay, United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres remained confident the parties could reach a strong, effective agreement, but that their were a few gaps left to fill.
“The agreement is done at the political level. Everyone knows: OK, we can do this,” she said. “What is not done yet is the language: how we can translate this common understanding about the next steps, and the progress to a flexible and transparent process, from political language into agreement language. This is the challenge we have today.”
As negotiations continue throughout Friday night, Figueres still believes that challenge will be met.