Results of the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima

Today, we gonna widen our perspective beyond Europe and have a look on what is happening on the global level: Last week the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima came to an end..  What were the outcomes?

The UN Climate Change Conference took place from the 1^st until the 14^th of December 2014.
195 countries participated at the 20^th Conference of the Parties aiming to define a new 2015 agreement on climate change.

The overall goal of the Climate Change Conference is to limit the global warming to below two degrees Celsius. According to the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this can only be reached if the CO₂ emissions are reduced by 40 to 70 percent until 2050.

To reach this goal, a multi-generation-contract for the future is needed. Personal responsibility, rationality, obligations and an appropriate financing should be the supporting pillars of a new climate agreement. The objective of Lima’s Climate Change Conference was to build a basis for the conference in Paris, where next year the new international climate contract will be defined.

The outcome of the conference was unfortunately just a minimal agreement of principles for the new climate contract. Criteria for the reduction of CO₂ emissions are very vague and at the moment without obligation. The major argument during this conference was the financing. Developing countries accused the industrialized countries not to take responsibility in form of money for their harm made to the climate. The 37 pages of the draft for the climate contract include more questions than answers. However, several possible options that were accepted as a first basis for negotiation are listed.

So the outcome could have been more promising, but let´s hope that in 2015 a binding climate agreement can be successfully set up!

What´s left to say for now: Merry Christmas and happy new year to everybody!!