CLIMATE CHANGE: THE WORLD FINALLY AGREES ON A PLAN

CONFERENCE// One couldn’t have asked for a bigger Christmas present. Nearly 200 countries came together in Paris, France, last month to agree on a plan to save Planet Earth by halting climate change. The agreement comes after 20 years of arguments and discussions as everyone around the table realised that the Paris meetings were possibly the last chance they had to solve the problem before it became too big.

What has been agreed on?

At Paris, the world’s countries have agreed to keep the rise in temperature as compared to the time before the Industrial Era below 2 degree Celcius at the very most, and actually work to keep it below 1.5 degree C. Countries will attempt to do it in two ways:

• Reach the maximum or peak level of CO2 emissions in the next few decades.
• After that, in the second half of this century, work to reduce CO2 levels even more by switching from fossil fuels to clean energy that comes from the sun, wind and water. Energy from such sources will not pollute the earth.

The French, including their President Francois Hollande, worked very hard at making all countries agrees to the deal. India too played an important role — Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Paris and India made promises to move to cleaner energy sources. The important thing for the future is for countries to keep their promise on cutting levels of CO2 emissions from factories and vehicles. The landmark Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted by 196 countries, committing them to curb global warming to well below two degrees Celsius and outline a roadmap to raise $100 billion annually towards a green fund for developing nations.