World leaders launch a whirlwind day of talks in the French capital on Monday aimed at forging an elusive agreement to stave off calamitous global warming.
The summit kicks off nearly a fortnight of talks intended to end two decades of international bickering with a pact that would limit emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.
Here's why chances are better this time:
US, China on board: Both US and China, the biggest carbon polluters and the biggest hurdles in the implementation of global warming plans, have reached an agreement. US has agreed to cut down its emissions by 28 per cent till 2025. China has also agreed to implement a nation-wide system to curb industrial emissions.
India for Climate justice: India has decided to stick to its earlier stand that developed countries must take a larger reasonability towards climate change as they are the largest emitters. However, amid growing pressure from the world, India is likely to enter the talks with an open mindset.
Much-needed political momentum: With about 150 world leaders in Paris for the first day of the talks, chances are that the occasion will inject the much-needed political momentum into the negotiations.
Major Greenhouse has emitters: US (17.7), China (16.7) and European Union (14.6) contribute almost 50 per cent in the Greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
Earlier failed attempts: Since 1992, UN has been regularly holding global meeting to chalk out a global climate change policy. At Kyoto ( 1997) and at Copenhagen (in 2009), the world leaders reached to a consensus twice but things failed to reach to a conclusion.
