On climate, actions need to match words

With half the developed world battling to stave off recession, prospects of steady funding appear bleak

Officials from 195 nations cheered and cried, the French foreign minister sounded the bang of a gavel to signal a deal and the US president called it mankind’s best chance to save the planet. But after a night of euphoria and ecstasy, the world woke up to the sober reality that life, after a historic climate change agreement reached in Paris, will not exactly be a walk in the park. Against the backdrop of Copenhagen and Kyoto, it is a remarkable achievement indeed that the international community successfully agreed to set a target to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, compared with the Industrial Revolution, and committed itself to aim for an even more ambitious goal of 1.5C in the second half of the century.

But while developed countries have agreed to provide at least $100 billion (Dh367.3 billion) every year from 2020 to help developing nations with the cost of ushering in a cleaner future, any mention of such a fund was deleted from the legally binding section of the deal following US objections. That would hardly come as a surprise: the International Energy Agency estimates that the targets outlined in Paris would need more than $16 trillion of investment on renewables and energy efficiency by 2030, with governments required to offer every possible kind of incentives on clean energy — from ramping up production, scaling back support for fossil fuels and reducing deforestation.

The economics and feasibility of such massive globally-collaborated spending would make even the most devout climate change activist sceptical. As half the developed world is tottering on the edge of recession, the prospects of steady funding for the climate policy from 2020 appear to be bleak. The execution and review of the goals agreed in Paris is another contentious area, where the definition of success has been left as voluntary as in the funding. Though most nations have submitted their own plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 and review them every five years, the very nature of the agreement means it would require just a couple of non-compliant nations to derail the deal.

Unless the actions of the international community match its lofty visions for a cleaner future, the deal in Paris will therefore only remain exciting until the next climate summit.