The anticipated outcome of COP21 in Paris will be to reach a new, legally-binding international agreement on climate change, applicable to all 154 participating countries, to keep global warming below 2°C (see resources below on why 2°C is important). This will build upon the work of COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, during which parties agreed to a common objective of keeping the increase in global temperature below 2°C.
An important part of discussions in Paris will be to track progress of the commitment that industrialized countries made in Copenhagen to raise $100 billion per year from public and/or private sources by 2020 to assist less developed countries in climate-change adaptation and mitigation.
These funds which will be channeled through Green Climate Fund, another key item of this year’s discussions. The Fund was created at COP16 in Durban, South Africa, to manage a large portion of the industrialized countries’ $100 billion annual fund through concrete projects. However, at this point in time, only $5.8 billion has been delivered from donor countries of the $10 billion promised in 2014.
Securing funding pledges is just one of the many challenges of advancing global climate policy – but there is a lot of positive action happening at the sub-national (province/state) level, including right here in Ontario! Seeing how progressive local policies, from implementing carbon taxes, to mandating green building retrofits, to incentivizing low-carbon transportation, can all work together to make larger changes can bring a more action-oriented angle to the nitty-gritty of global policymaking.
The COP21 Learn page is a great place to start collecting facts that can inform your classroom discussions. Some highlights:
- Why 2°C? Watch a short clip from the BBC highlighting temperature measurements that have led to this recommendation.
- Love numbers? Track what each country has pledged to the Fund here.
- Find out what each of the 154 participating countries have committed as emissions reduction targets with this interactive map (in French only).
- Take a virtual tour of the spaces in which COP21 will take place
Stay tuned for the next installment in our COP21 blog series on Friday: The Not-So-Official COP21: Other Gatherings to Watch.
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