Paris 2015 climate confrence - setting the scene

Paris 2015: 30th of November until the 11th of December
Source: COP21

Hello!

Over the next three months I will be writing a blog as part of my 3rd year undergraduate course at UCL titled 'Global Environmental Change'. As long as it is related to the course we can blog about anything we like. I have chosen to blog about COP21 otherwise know as the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change and more colloquially just "Paris 2015". 

I chose to blog about COP21 since it not just a crucial conference for the trajectory of future global environmental change but also because the conference is scheduled from the 30th of November until the 11th of December fitting in perfectly within the time frame of this blog. It will allow me to discuss the main issues leading up to COP21, comment on the conference itself and analyse the resulting outcomes. Was the conference successful and what do agreed international agreements (if any) really mean for climate?

The stakes are high: its crunch time. Current commitments on greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2020. The conference aims to reach, for the first time, a universal, legally binding agreement that will enable us to combat climate change effectively and boost the transition towards resilient, low-carbon societies and economies (Paris, 2015).

So what does COP21 really set out to achieve? According to the COP21 webpage it 'needs to achieve a new international agreement on the climate, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C'. Even this mission statement highlights three interesting topic areas that will be discussed in further blogs. First, the need for a new international agreement. Why is it important that there is an international agreement on climate, what agreements have been before? Second, applicability to all countries. How have previous agreements been agreed, who has participated, how are the agreements fair for all countries with differing levels of development and a variety of climates? Third, what is the science and significance behind 2°C.

I will primarily focus on academic elements surrounding COP21. However, where relevant I will also blog about the way people are interacting and responding with the conference. It is already interesting to read about how activists are promising the largest climate civil disobedience ever at the Paris summit. People have become frustrated by the failure of previous climate conferences such as at in Copenhagen in 2009. According to the Economist one NGO described the city as “a climate crime scene...with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport in shame.” This blog will question whether five years later anything has changed?

Next week I will be going to back to basics and explaining why a new international agreement on climate is important.

But in the mean time why don't you follow COP21 on twitter or take the interactive COP21 quiz. It's a must!