World leaders meet to finalise climate change agreement
Negotiations at the climate change conference in Paris have reached fever pitch with world leaders meeting to finalise on a climate agreement to be signed, hopefully on Friday. The 29-page document has elicited emotions from different quarters, with a section of the civil society decrying it as being rhetoric and mere political statements. Activists drawn from the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), say the ongoing discussions are many of the unfulfilled promises from, particularly, the developed countries. Augustine Njamnshi from Pacja said: “Will the agreement differentiate countries to determine their responsibility in contributing to climate change? Will the developed countries raise the nearly Sh10 trillion by 2020 in funding to support climate action in developing countries?” Another activist Kaisa Kosonen of Greenpeace said: “Some of the words in this text are smeared with the fingerprints of the oil-producing states. It’s a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly, but there’s a lot still to fight for.” Others thought the text was a step in the right direction. Kenya’s Environment Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu said the text looks good but discussions were ongoing and that Kenya is looking forward to a “legally binding agreement.” She said that the release of the draft means a “long day for ministers to look at the components of the draft to come up with an agreement that we will all be comfortable with.” Ms Wakhungu told According to Mr Tom Owiyo, a Principal economist on climate change at the Africa Development Bank, the agreement in the end should capture the “voice of Africa to keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees.” Indeed, according to Article 2 (a) it offers options that negotiators can decide on whether: “To hold the increase in the global average temperature [below 1.5 °C] [or] [well below 2 °C] above pre-industrial levels by ensuring deep reductions in global greenhouse gas [net] emissions.” The document is based on closed door consultations by ministers from nearly 100 countries in the past two days. The discussions were held in parallel, on different issues that together comprise the Paris agreement. An analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit Germana Canzi said: “Many countries have come into negotiations recognising that a clean energy transition and a decoupling of emissions from economic growth are underway already, but Paris could be a key accelerator towards the end of the fossil fuel age.”