The 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as COP21, managed to finalise a world-wide climate deal earlier this month. For the first time in history all of the world's nations have been united in a single agreement to tackle climate change.
Almost 200 countries reached a consensus by the end of the conference that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut. The agreement has been hailed historic by many as previous attempts to tackle climate change have failed to be as overreaching. In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol set emission cutting targets for some developed countries but the US pulled out of the Protocol and many others failed to comply.
However historic this agreement may be, scientists have urged that actions to tackle climate change must be stepped up if we are to curb dangerous temperature rises resulting from climate change.
The key elements of the agreement from COP21 include:
The agreement does outline a longer-term plan for a peak in greenhouse emissions as soon as possible, and a balance being achieved between man-made greenhouse gases and absorption by forests or the oceans by the second half of this century.
Scientists have deemed a rise of around 2C above pre-industrial times to be a dangerous and irreversible level of climate change. Already there has been warming of around 1C to date and this has led to many countries demanding tougher targets of 1.5C instead of a 2C cap.
One major point of discussion throughout the talks has been about who will fund the fight against climate change. Developing countries claimed that they need both financial and technological help in order to move from fossil fuels to renewables.
£67 billion ($100 billion) a year has already been promised to developing countries by 2020. The agreement requires developed nations to maintain this funding pledge and use this as a baseline figure for further support to be agreed by 2025. It was agreed that richer developed countries should continue to provide financial support to poorer nations to enable them to cope with challenges they face because of climate change.
Dr Kelman of UCL, London, says the lack of time scales are ''worrying'', and further added, ''The starting point of $100bn per year is helpful, but remains under 8% of worldwide declared military spending each year.''
It is important to remember that only certain elements of the Paris agreement will be legally binding. National pledges made by countries to cut their emissions are wholly voluntary. Discussions over when these pledges should be revisited caused much debate during the talks.
Analysts have stated that Paris is only the beginning of a move towards low-carbon, and much more work will be required. World Wildlife Federation UK Chief Executive David Nussbaum described the COP21 agreement as ''just the starting gun for the race towards a low-carbon future''.
Prof John Shepherd of the National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton believed many people don't appreciate how difficult it will be to achieve the goals set out in the new climate deal. He remarked:
"Since the only mechanism remains voluntary national caps on emissions, without even any guidance on how stringent those caps would need to be, it is hard to be optimistic that these goals are likely to be achieved."
Despite its critics the climate deal is hoped will be the start of a bigger impact in tackling global climate change. Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo summed up the deal as:
''Only one step on a long road, and there are parts of it that frustrate and disappoint me, but it is progress ... This deal alone won't dig us out the hole we're in, but it makes the sides less steep.''
