Copenhagen Accord

The Paris Agreement to combat climate change became international law on Nov. 4, putting pressure on countries to take action to slash greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. 

This action comes after record-fast ratification by nations reassembling next week for a fresh round of U.N. climate talks. 

A total of 196 countries are expected to sign a new agreement on climate that will determine the fate of the world in the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, which will be held between Nov. 30 and Dec. 12 in Le Bourget, a commune in the northeast suburbs of Paris.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on March 12 urged nations to set ambitious goals to curb greenhouse gases, warning climate change deniers that gambling with the Earth's future was a risky business as "there is no Planet B."        

For "shall", substitute "may". For example, change "countries signing this climate change treaty SHALL state how much they are going to cut their greenhouse emissions" to "countries signing this climate change treaty MAY state how much they are going to cut their emissions if they feel like it, but if they don't, hey, no problem."

European Union insistence on a right to challenge nations about their plans for fighting climate change, in the run-up to a United Nations summit in 2015, opened a rift at U.N. climate talks in Lima on Dec. 9.

Half of nearly $8 billion in climate finance given to the developing world since 2003 went to just ten countries, and nations most at risk got the short end of the stick, a report said Dec. 8.
      

Negotiators from more than 190 countries get together Dec. 1 in Lima for the last main stop of the U.N. climate negotiations on the road to a planned global warming deal in Paris next year.

A global deal to combat climate change in 2015 looks more likely after promises for action by China, the United States and the European Union, but any agreement will probably be too weak to halt rising temperatures.