week2 - paris climate change conference COP21

Paris Climate Change Summit : What you need to Know

What is the meeting?

The meeting goes by several names - the United Nations Climate Summit, the2015 Paris Climate Conference, or COP21, which *stands for the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties that are part of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. The first COP meeting took place in Berlin in 1995, and the most famous of these was COP3, which resulted in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

A 2009 conference in Copenhagen failed to produce a meaningful agreement, so world leaders are trying again to jumpstart the negotiations.

Who will be there?

About 150 world leaders and than more than 40,000 *delegates representing 195 countries will attend the conference in Paris.

What is the goal?

Nations are working toward a global, legally binding agreement that will lower greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius(35.6 degrees *Farenheit) - the critical number identified by scientists. Once global warming climbs beyond that threshold, they say, the earth's land, food and water supply would be harmed, endangering the planet's population.

The 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the planet has already warmed by 0.85 degrees Celsius from 1880 to 2012 and could increase by another 1.5 to 4 degrees by the end of the century, compared to 1850.

At the COP20 meeting in Lima last year, governments agreed to submit their *pledges to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Climate negotiators are pushing for stronger commitments in Paris as a necessary step toward building the world's economic future.

"It would also show investors that the world is firmly committed to a low-carbon future, which is exactly the signal the private sector needs to go all-in on renewable energy technologies, create new markets and new jobs," Paul Bodnar, the National Security Council's senior director for energy and climate change, told reporters.

Bodnar also said that the negotiators will look for ways to have countries regularly update their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

The U.S. is looking to get major emerging countries more involved, as shown by President Obama's scheduled meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian President Narendra Modi on his first day at the conference.

President Obama is also meeting with island nations that are most *susceptible to changes in sea level because of climate change, including Seychelles, Kiribati, St. Lucia and Barbados.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-climate-change-summit-what-you-need-to-know/

*

what : United Nations Climate Summit, the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, or COP21

who : 150 world leaders

where : Paris ,France

when : 2015

why : To agree and sign a contract in the reduction of CO2 and lower the temperature in global warming

how : The leaders of 150 countries discuss the content of the contract

*stands for(v.phr)主張;代表

*delegates(n.)代表

*Farenheit(n.)華氏

*pledges(n.)保證

*susceptible(adj.)易受…影響的;敏感的