COP21: World leaders pledge to fight climate change

(Baonghean.vn) - On November 30, in their speeches at the COP21 Climate Change Conference, more than 150 leaders of countries expressed their determination and affirmed their commitments on the first official day of the conference taking place in Bourget, north of Paris.

After a minute of silence to commemorate the victims of the attacks in Paris on November 13, the heads of state of more than 150 countries each had 3 minutes to express their commitments in the fight against climate change as well as provide “political momentum” for the negotiations that began on the evening of November 30 and the parties will work in the first session taking place on December 6.

Heads of state show solidarity in the fight against climate change. Photo: AP

Opening the conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon asserted, “You can no longer afford to be picky or resort to half-measures… History is speaking, and I urge you to respond with courage and vision.”

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius - who has just officially become the executive president of the COP21 Conference expressed "Let the Paris Conference go down in history as the world expects".

As for President Francois Hollande, he declared: “I am not only against the war on terrorism but also against climate change… These are two great global challenges that we need to face. The future of the planet will be decided right here, in Paris” as well as the need to reach an agreement that is “different, universal and binding”.

The ultimate goal set for the 40,000 participants at the COP21 conference is for parties to reach a global agreement on greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming below 2˚C compared to the industrial era.

US President Barack Obama has acknowledged the US’s responsibility for global warming and said that the US bears responsibility for it. “We have demonstrated that there is no conflict between strong economic growth and environmental protection,” Obama said. However, the US President predicted that the negotiations would be difficult because each country had its own red lines. Therefore, disagreements quickly returned, especially on the sharing of responsibility between industrialized countries, emerging countries and developing countries.

As for Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said that developed countries need to “fulfill their commitments” to finance climate policies for southern countries.

Notably, during the afternoon session on November 30, President Hollande and President Obama presented an initiative on “reinventing the mission” that brings together 20 countries including France, the US, the UK. Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are doubling their investments in clean energy research and development over the next five years.

In parallel, Billionaire Bill Gates also announced the establishment of a private investment fund called Breakthrough Energy Coalition to finance companies selling clean energy solutions. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition also has contributions from Mark Zuckerberg - founder of Facebook, Jeff Bezos - CEO of Amazon, Reid Hoffman - founder of LinkedIn...

Chu Thanh

(According to Le Monde)