12/13/15
Eleanor Babcock
UNFCCC Week Two!

Final Decision

An agreement was reached at the second week of the UNFCCC meeting in Paris negotiating mitigation and adaptation policies of climate change. Laurent Fabius declared the final agreement on Saturday December 12th which closed discussions on the document. One of the most disagreed upon portions of the document was finally agreed upon as well. These ambitious portions of the document were the debate as to what temperature we should agree on to keep the world under. The three options were, at 2 degrees Celsius, well below 2 degrees Celsius or at 1.5 degrees Celsius. This temperature agreement would be the determining factor for the world and action associated with keeping the warming of our atmosphere under.

It was decided at COP 21, in the second week of negotiations that the global temperature should remain "well below 2 degrees Celsius". I find it comforting that through the agreement there is a large push to keep the temperature increase as low as possible; however, I find that the communication related to this agreement could potentially be skewed in the future. First of all, I believe that the statement "well below" is too ambiguous. I think that in a document, especially one that potentially determines the fate of our world, should be specific as possible. There was an underground push in Paris this year for a stop of global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius but there was not as much support from above. I am excited that an agreement on where to keep our global temperature has been; however, I am skeptical as to how effective this particular decision will be. Along with the ambiguity of the wording of the agreement, 2 degrees Celsius is a very high number. I think that if we had sent the global temperature limit at 1.5 degrees Celsius, there would be a stronger push to develop sustainability and mitigate climate change. The higher the temperature the more time we will take to take collective action.

The agreement is exciting and I feel policy bodies and world leaders have the motivation and potential to succeed in stopping the most major problem of our world, climate change.