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The Paris agreement marks an unprecedented political recognition of the risks of climate change
来源:http://www.economist.com/news/international/21683990-paris-agreement-climate-change-talks
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作者:Econmist
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发布时间: 2015-12-12
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2195 次浏览
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Mr Hollande was proud of the achievement, and he had reason. France, which had the presidency of the UN negotiations, managed the talks with a sure hand. The ground had been well prepared by its diplomats, led by Laurence Tubiana, the climate ambassador; the talks were kept open enough that all parties felt their voices were heard, but Mr Fabius moved things along firmly when necessary. It was a far cry from the botched mess of the Copenhagen climate summit six years ago.
The Paris agreement marks an unprecedented political recognition of the risks of climate change. Indeed, that is the lens through which to view its rather impractical-looking interest in the 1.5°C limit. It served to underline the urgency that more vulnerable nations feel about the issue, and to raise the stakes, even if, in practice, it will do little to increase the level of action in the near term. Delegates from low-lying islands threatened with flooding from rising sea levels could not travel home having signed a suicide pact. As the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum, noted: “Our chance for survival is not lost.”
And yoked to the political progress is an economic transition. Perhaps the most significant effect of the Paris agreement in the next few years will be the signal it sends to investors: the united governments of the world say that the age of fossil fuels has started drawing to a close. That does not mean that they are necessarily right, nor that the closing will not be much more drawn out than the Marshall Islands and other such states would wish. But after Paris, the belief that governments are going to stay the course on their stated green strategies will feel a bit better founded—and the idea of investing in a coal mine will seem more risky.