COP21: What you need to know
The 2015 Paris Climate Conference, otherwise known as COP21, has been developed to bring official delegates from government and other important organisations together to discuss the reaching of a legally binding and universal agreement on climate; the aim is to keep global warming below 2°C.
Tuesday, 05 Jan 2016 09:41 GMT
The COP21 conference, which aims to put a cap on global warming to below 2°C, is being held in Paris
The conference has been a talking point in the sign industry as sign-making practices can leave behind a considerable carbon impact, and becoming a more sustainable industry is something that is often strived for.
France hosted the COP21 conference from November 30th to December 11th 2015, 20 years since the very first COP in Berlin. The conference will be one of the largest international conferences ever held in France. It was expected to see around 50,000 participants including 25,000 official government delegates, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs, and civil society.
It is the 21st conference that has taken place, however, the discussions started at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the ‘Rio Convention’ included the adoption of the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which set out a framework for stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
Environmental responsibility is an ongoing commitment that needs to be part of the DNA of every company if we are to make a lasting contribution to the preservation of the planet and reduce global warming”
Partner to COP21, Antalis, supplied all of the paper for this year’s conference, which had a five star rating under the Green Star System. Hervé Poncin, chief operating officer of Antalis International, says: “Environmental responsibility is an ongoing commitment that needs to be part of the DNA of every company if we are to make a lasting contribution to the preservation of the planet and reduce global warming. Antalis is proud to support COP21 and its ambitious objective.”
The conference has hit several stages on the run up to its first day. On October 7th, the climate finance report by the OECD and the think tank Climate Policy Initiative kicked off the negotiations. According to the report, $62b has been raised in 2014 by developed countries to help developing countries cope with climate change.
The UNFCCC synthesis report on national contributions was published on October 30th, where countries published their greenhouse gap emission reduction policies. It was revealed that the global greenhouse gap emission pathway based on the contributions would mean that by 2030, we would be heading towards a rise of around 3°C.
The last step before COP21 was the pre-COP, from November 8th to 10th in Paris which was held to explore possible compromises and prepare the resumption of negotiations when COP21 is opened.
At the time of writing, a draft Paris outcome text had been published at the UN climate talks in Paris, just two days before its end. The 29-page text reportedly reduced the options on many of the key questions after days of negotiations.
Following the end of COP 21, countries agreed to a new global deal to tackle climate change.
If you have an interesting story or a view on this news, then please e-mail
news@signlink.co.uk
Follow Jo on:
