Paris climate talks: 5 things to know
High-level negotiations on an international agreement to fight global warming open outside Paris in Le Bourget on Monday and are scheduled to conclude Dec. 11.
The event is formally known as the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).
Here's what you need to know:
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
Nothing less than the future of our planet. The participants hope to produce a legally binding plan to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels. Without this minimum step, the planet will face worsening droughts, storms and floods, according to a consensus among climate scientists.
WHO'S GOING TO BE THERE?
Representatives from 196 nations, including dozens of world leaders such as President Obama and China's President Xi Jinping (whose two countries are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for the warming trend). Thousands of delegates, politicians, business leaders, scientists, environmental activists and journalists will also be at the summit. Public climate change demonstrations in Paris and in cities around France have been called off in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the French capital two weeks ago.
Take a listen to a report from Paris with two journalists covering the climate talks in the audio player below:
WHAT IS SPECIFICALLY BEING DISCUSSED?
The conference will review the reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon, methane) that each country has pledged to achieve by 2020. The United States and China, which emit these gases from burning coal, oil and gas, have promised to shift their industries to green, low-carbon fuels. In 2009, climate talks in Copenhagen stalled over disagreements between developed and developing countries over how the burden of cuts should be distributed.
HOW DOES ALL THIS AFFECT ME?
The human cost of climate change is considerable. Over the past 20 years, weather-related disasters led to 606,000 deaths (30,000 per year) and 4.1. billion injuries, the U.N.'s officer for disaster risk reduction calculates. Moreover, some 90% of major disasters have been caused by 6,457 floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other extreme weather events at an annual cost of $250 billion to $300 billion, the U.N. estimates.
WILL THERE BE A DEAL?
It's looking like a definite maybe. Experts have expressed optimism that enough preparation has been done in advance of the talks to make a binding action plan possible. Of the 196 countries participating, 178 have already submitted so-called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs — essentially public pledges that illustrate how much they will reduce emissions and what form that would take.