Is COP21 the finish line of a long and tedious process of climate talks which has lasted over two decades? Is it the culmination of negotiations that will finally give the world the robust climate agreement that will limit global warming to less than 2°C. Or is a just a new starting point?
China’s Xi Jinping, at #COP21 Paris climate summit: “The Paris conference is not the finish line but a new starting point.”
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) November 30, 2015
Only at the UN does it take 21 years to get to the “starting point”… #COP21 https://t.co/lH8W0CNTCb
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) November 30, 2015
Culmination or Just a New Starting Point?
Before you can answer that question for yourself, you may need to do a 2-minute catch-up on the COP (Conference of the Parties) climate talks that have lasted seemingly for ever. The first one was held in Berlin in 1995. The next one is scheduled in Morocco in November of 2016.
This video will give you the facts and help you understand why it matters to all of us – in less than two minutes! If on the other hand you’re looking for the complete history and detailed background (see you in a few hours), you can go to the COP21 Website.
Published on Oct 27, 2015
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This video uses a different dynamic to provide a lighter explanation of the COP climate talks by comparing the process to ordering something off a menu that you really can’t afford. Check it out.
Published on October 27, 2015
Standard YouTube Licence
Environmental campaigner Anjali Appadurai speaks on behalf of the youth of the world when she says “you have been negotiating all my life. Get it done.” (In a speech given at the COP17 Durban, South Africa, climate talks).
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Rolly Montpellier is the Founder and Managing Editor of BoomerWarrior.Org. He’s a Climate Reality leader, a Blogger and a Climate Activist. He’s a member of Climate Reality Canada, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Ottawa) and 350.Org (Ottawa), the Ethical Team (as an influencer) and Global Population Speakout.
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China’s Xi Jinping’s comment that “the Paris conference is not the finish line but a new starting point” merely points to the deception (by accident or on purpose? not sure) being played out at COP21 around the 2ºC temperature limit. Look what we’ve discovered:
The 2ºC temperature increase limit has been fatally watered down!
The 2°C limit has been changed by the UNFCCC Secretariat from 2ºC of full, long-term equilibrium warming far into the future to 2ºC only by 2100!! This equals over 3.2ºC total equilibrium warming after 2100 – which is catastrophically dangerous.
Dr. Peter Carter (IPCC AR5 expert reviewer) of the Climate Emergency Institute in Canada warns that the temperature limits and increases from national emissions proposals for Paris are only up to 2100, which would mean the future has been written off.
He fears that “instead of action to cut global emissions NOW, Paris is set to approve emissions that will keep us at today’s one million year record levels of greenhouse gases – and even higher, which will leave future generations no chance of avoiding total planetary catastrophe. Paris could lead to a future of no hope, which would be negligence of a monumental proportion.”
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has it right: “We have to act NOW to slash greenhouse gas emissions.” [https://www.wmo.int/media/content/greenhouse-gas-concentrations-hit-yet-another-record]
The UNFCCC Secretariat reports, UNFCCC INDCs Synthesis [http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/07.pdf] and Climate Action Now Summary for Policymakers [http://climateaction2020.unfccc.int/spm/introduction/] get the global climate situation fatally wrong.
The UNFCCC INDCs Synthesis says:
• Government proposals (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs) put emissions even higher in 2030 than they are today.
• The INDCs take us to about 3.0°C, by 2100.
• 2°C is still possible even if the decline of global emissions is delayed until 2030.
Impossible! There is no way these numbers add up.
The only possible way to avoid the total catastrophe of above 2.0°C is immediate global reduction of all long-lived GHGs, which is the IPCC AR5’s best-case scenario, RCP2.6. Why aren’t governments clamouring to adopt and implement RCP2.6? Do they know that the 2ºC limit has been manipulated? Are they ignorant or complicit? Is anyone in Paris talking about this?
If you need more information or an interview, please contact:
Dr. Peter Carter
Climate Emergency Institute
Canada (Pacific Standard Time)
petercarter46 AT shaw.ca
Telephone +1-250-629-3811
Fax +1-250-629-3511
Mobile phone: +1-250-419-2875
This webpage isn’t quite ready yet, but have a look anyway: http://www.climateemergencyinstitute.org/paris_cop__21.html
Hi Julie – are either you or Peter in Paris by any chance. I decided to stay behind and participate in the Ottawa march and continue to be active on the home front. So far I like what I hear from our leaders in Paris but must agree with you that although the rhetoric is positive, there is still total silence on how the Liberals will treat the fossil fuel industry – no mention of freeze on tar sands or elimination of oil subsidies.
As you point out, we are likely in a “too little too late” predicament. There is a burning urgency to act immediately but yet any agreement will only start in 2020. It’s only four years away but a lot will happen in those four years. Every day we wait is one day closer to the climate abyss.
I checked out the website – looks like it will be a valuable source of scientific climate data. I’ll be happy to promote it when it’s ready. Peter and I have been loosely collaborating for several years now.
Greetings from Ottawa.
I sort of agree with you Julie. So far, I have only heard rhetoric and hollow sentiments from global leaders in the opening statements of COP21.
It is evident to me, that not only are leaders not mentioning that certain criteria are necessary to halt the increase of greenhouse gases, they appear to be saying ‘hands off our policies – we’ll make our own and do our bit.’ That can mean anything from ‘we have a plan,’ to ‘we have no plan, but we are not going to pay for your mess.’ Ji Jinping is in the first camp, and Robert Mugabe is in the second camp. Sentiments like these are so far apart, it doesn’t look hopeful for consensus on anything, let alone a real effort to clean up the planet.
To say ‘this is a new starting point,’ is admirable if everyone at the table agrees they must forget all the old ‘sticking points’ at previous COP meetings, but so far I don’t see evidence of that!