Challenges of the COP21

CHALLENGES OF THE COP21

By Anton Antonio

December 15, 2015

Conference of Parties or COP21 or the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Climate Talks is over but the harder part of summarizing and processing the results (suggestions, proposals, commitments, etc.) has just begun.

The objective of the COP21 is to get everyone to agree to bring down average global temperature to 1.5 degrees centigrade… which is the average temperature before the dawn of the industrial revolution sometime in the 1850s.  This will spell success or failure for the COP21.  Success or failure also anchors largely on the ability of the UNFCCC to address the following issues:

1. How to help underdeveloped and developing countries cope with the costs of global warming and climate change;
2. How to set the limit for planetary overheating; is 1.5 degrees Centigrade enough;
3. How to share the burden between rich and poor countries;
4. How to determine if the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (or INDCs) are enough or too much for individual countries; and,
5. How to monitor and review progress of a particular country’s INDCs.

Ultimately, the goal of the Paris climate talks is to find a comprehensive, ambitious, legally binding agreement with no country left behind.  While there are a lot of peripheral problems, addressing these issues and concerns are the real challenges of the COP21.

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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