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Agence France-Presse

Li Jing


Cheering envoys from 195 nations approved Saturday a historic accord in Paris to stop global warming, offering hope that humanity can avert catastrophic climate change and usher in an energy revolution.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius ended nearly two weeks of gruelling UN negotiations with the bang of a gavel, marking consensus among the ministers, who stood for several minutes to clap and shout their joy, with some shedding tears of relief.
Watch: With historic climate accord, world marks turn from fossil fuels

"I see the room, I see the reaction is positive, I hear no objection. The Paris climate accord is adopted," declared Fabius, the president of the talks.
Turning to a little green hammer with which he formally gave life to the arduously crafted pact, he quipped: "It may be a small gavel but it can do big things."
The post-2020 Paris Agreement ends decades-long rows between rich and poor nations over how to carry out what will be a multi-trillion-dollar campaign to cap global warming and cope with the impacts of a shifting climate.
The final meeting was delayed for nearly one hour than it was scheduled on Saturday evening, as some countries had differences on the wording of "shall" and "should" in an article about roles developed and developing countries will play.
China's top climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua joined the "huddle" with French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, US Secretary of State John Kerry, special climate representative Todd Stern, as well as Brazilian top negotiator to reach a final solution.
Though changing "shall" to "should" will to some extent relieve the legally bindingness of developed countries' responsibilities, Xie said the UNFCCC secretary has decided it is a technical error.
"Together we made a historical step," Xie later said at the closing comments after the Paris outcome was agreed.
"This fair, balanced agreement is ambitious and durable. It belongs to all of us," he said.

"Today's agreement will kickstart a historical change in development mode and lifestyle, in both developed and developing countries," Xie later told reporters.
But he said the deal is far from a perfect one as the level of funding support from rich countries to poor nations is still not satisfactory, and the industrialised countries have failed to pledge deeper emission cuts.
With this year forecast to be the hottest year on record, world leaders and scientists had said the accord was vital for capping rising temperatures and averting the most calamitous impacts from climate change.
Without urgent action, they warned, mankind faced increasingly severe droughts, floods and storms, and rising seas that would engulf islands and coastal areas populated by hundreds of millions of people.
"It is a victory for all of the planet and for future generations," US Secretary of State John Kerry told his fellow envoys in Le Bourget on the northern outskirts of Paris.
The crux of the fight entails slashing or eliminating the use of coal, oil and gas for energy, which has largely powered prosperity since the Industrial Revolution began in the 1700s.
The burning of those fossil fuels releases invisible greenhouse gases, which cause the planet to warm and disrupt Earth's delicate climate system.
Ending the vicious circle requires a switch to cleaner sources, such as solar and wind, and improving energy efficiency. Some nations are also aggressively pursuing nuclear power, which does not emit greenhouse gases.



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Paris climate summit 2015

Historic Paris agreement to stop climate change: 'A victory for all of the planet and for future generations'

French Special Representative for the 2015 Paris Climate Conference Laurence Tubiana (third left), Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres (centre) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (third right) after the adoption of the COP21 final agreement at the World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Le Bourget, north of Paris. Photo: EPA

French President Francois Hollande (right), French Foreign Minister and president of the COP21 Laurent Fabius (centre), and United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon applaud after the final conference at the COP21, the United Nations conference on climate change, in Le Bourget, north of Paris. Governments have adopted a global agreement that for the first time asks all countries to reduce or rein in their greenhouse gas emissions. Photo: AP

China's Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua (left) talks with French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal and former US Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore (centre) ahead of the closing of the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris. Photo: AFP

Audience members and delgates cheers after the adoption of a historic global warming pact at the COP21 Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris. Photo: AFP

The slogan "CLIMATESIGN" is seen on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Photo: Xinhua

'Final' global climate draft: French hosts submit 'historic and legally binding' UN climate-rescue accord 

Activists hold up a giant banner calling for "climate justice" during a demonstration near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Photo: AFP

French President Francois Hollande, left, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, center, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, as the potential final draft is submitted. Photo: AP

Activists hold up placards reading 'Leave it in the ground' during a demonstration on the Avenue de la Grande armee boulevard in Paris. Photo: AFP

Activists hold up a giant banner reading 'Climate justice' by association 'ourpowercampaign' during a demonstration near the Arc de Triomphe. Photo: AFP

US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with China's Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua prior to the opening of the COP21 conference in Le Bourget. Photo: AP

An environmentalist wears a polar bear costume as he participates in a protest near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) continues near the French capital in Le Bourget. Photo: Reuters

French President Francois Hollande (far left), Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon applaud a statement at the climate conference in Paris. Photo: AFP

China backs climate negotiators’ last push for deal to transform world’s fossil-fuel driven economy and halt global warming

TOPSHOT - French Foreign Affairs minister Laurent Fabius (R) greets Marshall Islands' Foreign Affairs minister Tony deBrum (L) in his office during the COP 21 United Nations Conference on climate change, on December 10, 2015 at Le Bourget, northeastern suburbs of Paris. Sleep-starved envoys tasked with saving mankind from catastrophic climate change aim to wrap up a historic Paris accord on December 12 after battling through a second all-night session of UN talks, the French hosts said. Fabius instructed the ministers from 195 nations to make unprecedented compromises on the outstanding issues: extremely complex rows primarily pitting rich countries against poor that have derailed previous UN efforts. / AFP / MARTIN BUREAU

TOPSHOT - This photo taken on September 17, 2015 shows a Chinese labourer sorting out plastic bottles for recycling in Dong Xiao Kou village, on the outskirt of Beijing. China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, and a crucial player in the global gathering finishing on December 11 in Paris, where nations have been trying to thrash out a plan to limit dangerous global warming. The 195-nation UN climate rescue talks in the French capital have been billed as the last chance to avert worst-case-scenario climate change impacts: increasingly severe drought, floods and storms, as well as island-engulfing rising seas. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR / AFP / FRED DUFOUR

French Foreign Affairs minister Laurent Fabius (right) greets Marshall Islands' Foreign Affairs minister Tony De Brum in his office during the United Nations Conference on climate change in Paris on Thursday. Photo: AFP

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Cheering envoys from 195 nations approved Saturday an historic accord in Paris, offering hope that humanity can avert catastrophic climate change and usher in an energy revolution.
