Paris climate pact pledges to decarbonise global economy

The Paris global climate summit forged an agreement on December 12, 2015, setting the course for a transformation of the world's fossil fuel-driven economy within decades in a bid to arrest global warming. After four years of fraught United Nations (UN) talks often pitting the interests of rich nations against the poor, imperilled island-states --- against rising economic powerhouses, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius declared the pact adopted, to the standing applause and whistles of delegates from almost 200 nations. Capping two weeks of tense negotiations at the summit on the outskirts of the French capital, Fabius said: "With a small hammer you can achieve great things".
Hailed as the first global climate deal, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in rising emissions blamed for warming the planet, it sets out a sweeping, long-term goal of eliminating net man-made greenhouse gas output this century. The United States (US) Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the US negotiations in Paris, has said: "It is a victory for the entire planet and for future generations. We have set a course here. The world has come together around an agreement that will empower us to chart a new path for our planet, a smart and responsible path, a sustainable path". It also creates a system to encourage nations to step up voluntary domestic efforts to curb emissions, and provides billions more dollars to help developing nations cope with the transition to a greener economy powered by renewable energy.
Calling it "ambitious and balanced", Fabius said the accord would mark a "historic turning point" in efforts to avert the potentially disastrous consequences of an overheated planet. For US President Barack Obama, it is a legacy-defining accomplishment that, he said at the White House, represents "the best chance we have to save the one planet that we've got". The final agreement was essentially unchanged from a draft unveiled earlier in the day, including a more ambitious objective of restraining the rise in temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, a mark scientists fear could be a tipping point for the climate. Until now the line was drawn only at 2 degrees.
In some ways, its success was assured before the summit began: 187 nations have submitted detailed national plans for how they will contain the rise in greenhouse gas emissions, commitments that are the core of the Paris deal. While leaving each country to pursue those measures on its own, the agreement finally sets a common vision and course of action after years of bickering over how to move forward. Officials hope a unified stance will be a powerful symbol for world citizens and a potent signal to the executives and investors they are counting on to spend trillions of dollars to replace coal-fired power with solar panels and windmills. Paul Polman, the CEO of consumer goods maker Unilever and a leading advocate for sustainable business practices, said, "This agreement establishes a clear path to decarbonise the global economy within the lifetimes of many people alive today". Polman added it would "drive real change in the real economy".
While some climate change activists and US Republicans will likely find fault with the accord - either for failing to take sufficiently drastic action, or for overreacting to an uncertain threat - many of the estimated 30,000 officials, academics and campaigners who set up camp on the outskirts of Paris say they see it as a long-overdue turning point. The delegates said, six years after the previous climate summit in Copenhagen ended in failure and acrimony, the Paris pact appears to have rebuilt much of the trust required for a concerted global effort to combat climate change. David Turnbull of Oil Change International, a research and advocacy organisation opposed to fossil fuel production said, "Whereas we left Copenhagen scared of what comes next, we'll leave Paris inspired to keep fighting".
Most climate activists reacted positively, encouraged by long-term targets that were more ambitious than they expected, while warning it was only the first step of many. European Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said, "Today we celebrate, tomorrow we have to work". From the outset, some criticised the deal for setting too low a bar for success. Scientists warned that the envisaged national emissions cuts will not be enough to keep warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, the last major climate deal reached in 1997, the Paris pact will not be a fully legally binding treaty.
       After talks that extended into early morning of December 12, 2015, the draft text showed how officials had resolved the stickiest points. In a win for vulnerable low-lying nations who had portrayed the summit as the last chance to avoid the existential threat of rising seas, nations would "pursue efforts" to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), as they had hoped. Olai Uludong, ambassador on climate change for the Pacific island state of Palau, said, "Our head is above water". While scientists say pledges thus far could see global temperatures rise by as much as 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.7 degrees Fahrenheit), the agreement also lays out a roadmap for checking up on progress. The first "stock take" would occur in 2023, with further reviews every five years to steadily increase or "ratchet up" those measures. It softened that requirement for countries with longer-term plans extending to 2030, such as China, which had resisted revisiting its goal before then.
For the first time, the world has agreed on a longer-term aspiration for reaching a peak in greenhouse emissions "as soon as possible" and achieving a balance between output of manmade greenhouse gases and absorption - by oceans or the forests - by the second half of this century. It also requires rich nations to maintain a US$ 100 billion a year funding pledge beyond 2020, and use that figure as a "floor" for further support agreed by 2025, providing greater financial security to developing nations as they wean themselves away from coal-fired power.
     US President Barack Obama has said the agreement is not perfect, but sets a framework that will have periodic reviews and assessments to ensure that countries meet their commitments to curb carbon emissions. As technology advances, targets can be updated over time. The agreement also calls for supporting the most vulnerable nations as they pursue cleaner economic growth. But top Republicans in Congress have dismissed the pact as nothing more than a long-term planning document. They said Obama's commitment to reducing emissions from US power plants would cost thousands of American jobs and raise electricity costs. Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, has said climate change poses one of the greatest threats the world has ever known and that no country acting alone can stem the tide. He said, "The time to act is now".  
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, "Outcome of Paris Agreement has no winners or losers. Climate justice has won and we are all working towards a greener future", continuing on the pact which seeks to limit global warming to "well bellow" 2 degrees Celsius and making developed nations commit US$ 100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries.   
The Bangladesh Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain said, "In recent times, climate change has become a complex issue…every state of both developed and developing countries have had their own demands over the climate change issue". The parties agreed to sign a complex climate agreement where Bangladesh's interests were protected. Bangladesh contributes little to the global greenhouse-gas emission, but it is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. "So, we (Bangladesh) put emphasis on adaptation, not on mitigation".
However, the Paris climate deal has come after two weeks of intense negotiations and represents a lot of compromises made, particularly by developing countries. These countries have got "words" and "promises" of money while the developed ones have finally got rid of their historical responsibility of causing climate change. Environmental activists have said the agreement is partly legally-binding and partly voluntary. The agreement is partly a legally-blinding one in a sense that it has ensured keeping global temperature bellow 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial level. But the developed countries still continue to remain threats to the earth's life.
 The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General
Education Cadre.
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