In December 2015, Paris will be the capital city of the
environment, as it will be hosting the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change ("UNFCCC"), also known as "Paris
2015," from November 30 to December 11, 2015.
For "Paris 2015," all members of the UNFCCC (195 nations
plus the EU) have agreed to adopt a new global climate agreement,
which would take effect in 2020. In short, this agreement aims to
merge all binding and nonbinding arrangements under the UNFCCC and
to rebuild into a single comprehensive regime in the form of a new
protocol. This will replace the Kyoto Protocol and will be binding on all
UNFCCC parties, with the aim of keeping global warming below
2°C compared to preindustrial times, to avoid the most
dangerous impacts of climate change.
The draft agreement, which will serve as a basis for the
negotiations in Paris, has been made public recently. Divided in two
parts—the first part presenting the measures to be adopted
and the second part explaining the implementation of these
measures—this draft agreement has already been widely
criticized for its lack of ambition, notably as regards the
decarbonization of the global economy.
Therefore, "Paris 2015" is facing very high expectations,
and an agreement on the climate will be difficult to achieve. In
this context, France and all its representatives will be playing a
leading international role to ensure negotiations toward the
adoption of a new global climate agreement.
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