Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Paris Climate Pact” Complete English Essay for Class 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, Graduation classes.

Paris Climate Pact

The 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN 1- Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Paris in November-December, 2015. Nearly 200 nations adopted the first global pact called Paris Agreement to fight climate change. The “Paris Agreement” aims to keep global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. In the pact, the countries commit to limiting the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100. The Paris Agreement requires developed countries to raise finances with $100 billion per year as the floor by 2020, to help developing nations in both mitigation and adaptation activities, while other nations are encouraged to provide funding voluntarily. However, any basis for liability of countries which have historically accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causing disastrous climate events such as droughts, floods and extinctions, has been excluded.

The first global evaluation of the implementation of the Paris Agreement is to take place in 2023, and thereafter every five years to help all countries. The United States vowed to double the money it spends helping poorer countries deal with the immediate effects of climate change. The US budget for so-called climate adaptation would double from around $430 million in 2014 to more than $800 million by 2020. The deal now needs to be ratified by individual governments—at least 55 countries representing at least 55 per cent of global emissions—and would take effect in 2020. It is the first pact to ask all countries to join the fight against global warming, representing a sea change in UN talks that previously required only wealthy nations to reduce their emissions.

Prior to the conference, 146 national climate panels publicly presented draft national climate contributions (called “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions”, INDCs). These suggested commitments were estimated to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100. For example, the EU suggested INDC is a commitment to a 40 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. The agreement establishes a “global stocktake” which revisits the national goals to “update and enhance” them every 5 years beginning 2023. However, no detailed timetable or country-specific goals for emissions were incorporated into the Paris Agreement – as opposed to the previous Kyoto protocol.

A number of meetings took place in preparation for COP21, including the Bonn Climate Change Conference, 19 to 23 October 2015, which produced a draft agreement.

Indian Concerns

• India’s concerns taken care of—sustainable lifestyles, consumption patterns, and climate justice addressed in preamble.
• Text has India’s stand on sharing climate action responsibility between developed and developing countries.
• Developed nations must enhance climate action, developing nations can do it on the basis of their capacity.