Leaders Call for Swift Action to Reach Climate Deal as COP21 Kicks Off

Paris (PNA/Xinhua) — At the opening of 12 days of intensive negotiations on how to reduce global warming and preserve the planet, French President Francois Hollande on Monday asked for action and not only good will to find a universal, binding agreement by the end of the summit.

“To resolve the climate crisis, good will, statements of intent are not enough. We are at a breaking point,” Hollande told a high- profile gathering in Bourget in Paris northern suburbs.

“By Dec. 12, a deal must be reached in Paris. The accord must be universal, binding and differentiated,” he added.

Hollande said states committed to stopping climate deterioration should accept a restrictive accord, show further solidarity towards most vulnerable countries and stick to a planned trajectory aimed at curbing global warming at 2 degrees celsius.

“We are going to decide during few days for few decades. The greatest danger is not that our target is too high and that we miss it. The greatest danger is that it is too low and we meet it,” he told participants at the 21st United Nations conference on climate change.

About 150 heads of states and governments are participating in the climate conference, widely considered as the last chance to forge a crucial accord to reduce green gas emissions, which caused severe droughts, rising sea level and frequent droughts and floods.

At the beginning of the talks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders to take swift action to reduce global warming.

“Paris must mark a decisive turning point. We need to go much faster, much further if we are to limit the global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius,” he said.

“The agreement must be dynamic and must adapt the changes without the need to renegotiate it continuously,” Ban added, calling on rich countries to deliver on their promises to provide USD100 billion to the poorest countries to face climate change challenges.

At Copenhagen summit in 2009, negotiations failed to limit greenhouses and rich nations’ promise to grant USD100 billion to world’s poorest countries to cope with climate change remained on paper.

Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister and chair of the international conference, said: “Everything will not be solved in Paris, but nothing can be solved without Paris.”

“We have an obligation to succeed because we know an accord is no longer just about the environment. It’s about justice, refugees and peace,” he said, noting “encouraging signs” to come out with an accord on global warming.

So far, 184 countries out of the 195 participating countries have submitted their national contributions to trim global warming. They represent about 95 percent of global greenhouse emissions, according to French top diplomat. (PNA/Xinhua) JMC/EBP