The COP21 is a success
Accord historique à Paris

The COP21 will serve as a post-Kyoto agreement

From November 30 to December 12 2015, the delegations of 195 countries were gathered in Le Bourget (Paris suburb) for the 21^st United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as the COP21.

The initial goal of the summit was to define new targets of reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto protocol will expire in 2020. It was implemented in 2005 but is now noting more than an empty shell. Indeed, the protocol coerces neither the United States (which did not ratify the protocol) nor China (which did not commit to any quantified target), which are responsible for 42% of global carbon emission all by themselves.

A "universal and coercing" agreement

The objective of the COP21 was to reach an agreement committing all countries in the world on specific issues under threat of penalties: it should thus be "universal" and "coercing". This was not a walk in a park at all. Negotiations almost shut down in the evening of the 9^th of December. But on December 12, a day later than the previously agreed schedule, an agreement was reached.

After three days (and as many nights) of intense negotiations, the 195 countries gathered in the Bourget reached the much sought-after "universal and coercing" agreement in order to contain global warming below +2 °C compared to the pre-industrial era. This is the first time that countries from all over the world manage to agree on an environmental issue.

Success for French diplomacy

The French presidency of the COP21, driven by Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius and his chief negotiator Laurence Tubiana, was largely credited with success. Fabius had been significantly committed in the preparation of the negotiations over the last months.

Even though everybody agrees that there is still much to be done, negotiators don't hide their satisfaction over this historical compromise. This was the case of Barack Obama, who declared that "though the problem is not solved through the Paris agreement, [...] it defines the sustainable framework the world needs".