Following a final compromise, at the COP 20 in Lima (Peru) last December, held under the aegis of the United Nations, allows us to expect that the table has been set for Paris in December 2015 for the finalisation of a new protocol Kyoto II (K2) on climate change. K2 would be the first worldwide agreement that would commit all the countries of the planet in a common action against global warming. The K2 agreement should be effective in 2020.
Following a final compromise, at the COP 20 in Lima (Peru) last December, held under the aegis of the United Nations, allows us to expect that the table has been set for Paris in December 2015 for the finalisation of a new protocol Kyoto II (K2) on climate change. K2 would be the first worldwide agreement that would commit all the countries of the planet in a common action against global warming. The K2 agreement should be effective in 2020.
The COP of Lima concluded with a consensual agreement by 195 countries members of the Kyoto convention concerning each countries contribution towards the reduction of their Greenhouse Gas emissions. Each country will present its national plan to fight against global warming which will constitute a basis for the future agreement in Paris. The national targets would be flexible and the initiatives to reduce GHG emissions, for now, non-constraining.
In this context, what we can hope to expect an agreement in Paris which should be operational for the beginning of 2020. However, one aspect remains preoccupying, no concrete answers concerning the necessity of stopping the increase of the GHG emissions for the period 2015-2020. The United Nations estimate at 10 billion tons of reductions GHG emissions will be required for the 2015-2020 period in order to meet the projected target of a 20 C planetary increase.
The challenges are immense. Note, for example, the decline in the prices of fossil energy since June 2014 and this at the same time as major institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations are talking of the necessity of having a price on carbon. These challenges are an incentive to take vaster and more generalized actions not only by national, regional or local governments but also by the society in general. The pertinence of a multitude of voluntary actions and efforts, beyond existing rules and regulations, with a «bottom-up» approach is absolutely necessary.
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Martin Clermont, CEO, Will Solutions