The “Paris Agreement" is being widely proclaimed as a historic deal and one that will inevitably lead to decarbonisation. It seems clear that the Agreement could herald a significant shift to a low carbon future over the coming decades, including in respect of energy, transport and the built environment.
The Agreement was adopted at 19.27pm on 12 December 2015
Laurent Fabius, President of the COP 21 UN Climate change conference and French foreign minister, declared that:
“The Paris Agreement allows each delegation and group of countries to go back home with their heads held high. Our collective effort is worth more than the sum of our individual effort. Our responsibility to history is immense.” .
French President Francois Hollande told the assembled delegates:
“You’ve done it, reached an ambitious agreement, a binding agreement, a universal agreement. Never will I be able to express more gratitude to a conference. You can be proud to stand before your children and grandchildren.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said:
“We have entered a new era of global cooperation on one of the most complex issues ever to confront humanity. For the first time, every country in the world has pledged to curb emissions, strengthen resilience and join in common cause to take common climate action. This is a resounding success for multilateralism.”
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said:
“One planet, one chance to get it right and we did it in Paris. We have made history together. It is an agreement of conviction. It is an agreement of solidarity with the most vulnerable. It is an agreement of long-term vision, for we have to turn this agreement into an engine of safe growth.”