COP21 begins in Paris
The UN Conference on Climate Change officially got underway earlier today just outside of Paris, France.
The 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11) runs through December 11th.
A total of 147 heads of state and government along with 30,000 diplomats and delegates will be attending the nearly two-week conference.
The conference hopes to achieve a new global pact that would for the first time commit almost every country in the world to enact new policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG's).
A key goal is to achieve a new, binding universal climate agreement that is applicable to all so that global warming is kept within the 2 degree celsius limit between now and the end of the century.
According to the COP21 website, the agreement must be universal, ambitious, balanced between mitigation/adaptation, flexible, sustainable and dynamic.
How did they come up with the 2 degree C. limit?
According to the IPCC, global warming of more than 2 degrees C. would have serious consequences, such as an increase in the number of extreme climate events worldwide.
To reach this goal, climate experts estimate that GHG's need to be reduced by 40 to 70 percent by 2050 and carbon neutrality (zero emissions) by 2100 at the latest.
Currently, the global trajectory of GHG emissions by published research would lead to a 2.7 to 3 degree C. temperature increase by the end of the century. Of note, we are currently moving away from the worst case scenario (4.5-6 deg. C. increase), which was considered the mostly likely scenario until recently.
"Never have the stakes of an international meeting been so high, since what is at stake is the future of the planet, the future of life", President Francois Hollande of France.
Other leaders from China, India, Russia and the U.S. spoke on Monday to open up the conference.
According to the NYT, the best deal that may achievable would be one that cuts emissions by half the level needed to avert the worst impacts, which would be a step forward, but not a solution.
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