French President Francois Hollande embraces Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon looks on in Paris, France, December 12, 2015

IMAGE: Stephane Mahe

Whilst the world is heralding the Paris Agreement as a real game-changer, opinion is simultaneously divided on exactly how effective this agreement will be for now.

 

 

"Its implementation will require unanimous commitment and generous dedication by everyone. I urge the international community, in its entirety, to carefully follow the road ahead, and with an ever-growing sense of solidarity."

Pope Francis

 

 

"We come together around the strong agreement the world needed. We met the moment."

Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel

 

 

"The talks at the COP21 conference in Paris have culminated in a global deal, with the whole world now signed up to play its part in halting climate change. In other words, this generation has taken vital steps to ensure that our children and grandchildren will see that we did our duty in securing the future of our planet. What is so special about this deal is that it puts the onus on every country to play its part."

UK Prime Minister David Cameron

 

 

"In Paris, there have been many revolutions over the centuries. Today it is the most beautiful and the most peaceful revolution that has just been accomplished. COP21 proclaimed the rights of humanity."

President of France Francois Hollande

 

 

“Today the world is united in the fight against climate change. Today the world gets a lifeline, a last chance to hand over to future generations a world that is more stable, a healthier planet, fairer societies and more prosperous economies.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker

 

 

"This marks a big step in our attempts to curb climate change. The goal of limiting the rise in global temperature to well below 2C – and to work towards 1.5C – is more ambitious than many would have thought just a couple of years ago. But, as the agreement points out, the pledges that have currently been made are not sufficient to achieve this target. The agreement includes a commitment to update pledges and make them more progressive, but the text is vague on the overall ambition: it does not specify a date for the peaking of emissions, and specifies only that reductions should lead towards “greenhouse gas emissions neutrality” in the “second half of the century”."

Nigel Arnell, University of Reading

 

 

"The ice core and observational records show so strikingly how as humans we have dramatically altered our global atmosphere in such a short time, with all the attendant risks to this and future generations. Today, though, we have seen another side of humanity. We have seen an unprecedented demonstration of how global cooperation has the potential to steer us on to a pathway to a safer future."

Emily Shuckburgh, British Antarctic Survey

 

 

"Paris has shown all countries of the world taking the climate threat seriously, and this is to be applauded. The agreement will help reduce the chances of dangerous climate change – though by exactly how much is hard to quantify. When we speak about targets of two degrees, or even 1.5, we should remember that science has yet to uncover a simple relationship between carbon emissions and the level of future global warming. Instead, the relationship is imprecise – even more so at the regional level – reflecting current uncertainties in many complex processes at play in the climate system. "

Tim Palmer, Royal Society research professor in climate physics

 

 

"Paris is just the starting gun for the race towards a low-carbon future."

WWF-UK Chief Executive David Nussbaum.

 

 

"An ambition to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees is all very well, but we still don’t have an adequate global plan to make this a reality. This agreement leaves millions of people across the world under threat from climate-related floods, droughts and super-storms."

Friends of the Earth CEO Craig Bennett

 

 

"This deal alone won't dig us out the hole we're in, but it makes the sides less steep."

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo

 

 

 

 

To find out more about the United Nations Climate Change Conference, you can read our latest edition.