Fatih Birol: Five ways to take action on climate change

(The Guardian, 3 Dec 2016) The world’s leaders have promised to take urgent action on climate change. But that was the easy part. Here’s what they need to do next.

T he Paris agreement has been ratified. Only one year after negotiating this historic treaty, it has come into force. This signals that the vast majority of governments around the world remain committed to fighting climate change.

Yet that was the easy part. Actually realising these commitments made at COP21 in Paris will require concerted, concrete action for many years to come. Though the vast majority of countries in the world have clear goals in the form of nationally determined contributions (NDCs), these are not action plans, nor are the NDCs strong enough to actually keep global average temperature from rising more than 2C.

The Paris agreement is a truly global commitment, spanning developed and developing countries around the world. Yet for many developing and least-developed countries, in particular, contributing to the fight against climate change requires taking targeted actions while also prioritising economic development and poverty reduction. Here are five areas in the energy sector that offer such a win-win.

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The Guardian, 3 Dec 2016: Fatih Birol: Five ways to take action on climate change