WATCH: Elizabeth May, leader of Canada's Green Party, agreed with Fabius that the draft text was ambitious but balanced – December 13, 2015 (9:49 min. - SCROLL DOW
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LISTEN: Elizabeth May: Canada was 'hated' for its inaction on climate change – December 10, 2015
[ http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/does-t ... -1.3359146 ]
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'Historic' Paris climate deal adopted
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Agreement criticized for imposing no sanctions on countries that fail to reduce emissions
CBC News Posted: Dec 12, 2015 5:52 AM ET| Last Updated: Dec 12, 2015 3:46 PM ET
Updated (NO LINKS)
■Countries adopt Paris climate deal
■Pact would be legally binding, French foreign minister says
■'Endeavour to limit' global temperature rise to 1.5 C
■$100B funding for developing countries by 2020
Nearly 200 nations adopted the first global pact to fight climate change on Saturday, calling on the world to collectively cut and then eliminate greenhouse gas pollution but imposing no sanctions on countries that don't.
Loud applause erupted in the conference hall outside Paris after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius gavelled the agreement Saturday. Some delegates started crying. Others embraced.
The countries had been negotiating the pact for four years after earlier attempts to reach such a deal failed.
This accord marks the first time all countries are expected to pitch in — the previous emissions treaty, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, only included rich countries. Canada signed on to Kyoto, but later backed out in 2011. [ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada- ... l-1.999072 ]
'For our children'
Shortly after the deal was adopted, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna tweeted: "History is made. For our children."
The White House called the Paris accord "the most ambitious climate change agreement in history" and says it establishes "a long-term, durable global framework" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
U.S. President Barack Obama will make a statement on the climate agreement later Saturday at the White House.
The agreement, South African Environment Minister Edna Molewa said, "can map a turning point to a better and safer world."
The deal now needs to be ratified by individual governments and would take effect in 2020.
Under the deal, countries will have to publish greenhouse gas reduction targets and revise them upward every five years, while striving to drive down their carbon output "as soon as possible."
The final text of the agreement commits countries to keeping global warming "to well below 2 degrees C" and hopes to limit it to 1.5 C, with the goal of a carbon-neutral world sometime after 2050.
In introducing the draft text earlier on Saturday, Fabius, flanked by French President François Hollande and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, called the pact "a historic turning point" and said it contained some key provisions.
Those include terms making the accord legally binding, as well as the 1.5 C goal — below the 2 C standard scientists say is essential to limiting potentially catastrophic climate change.
That was a key demand of developing countries ravaged by the effects of climate change and rising sea levels.
Another major debate has been over a promise that developed countries should provide $100 billion annually to help poorer states deal with the consequences of climate change. The text sets that figure as a floor by 2020.
"Having it presented with Ban Ki-moon on one side of Laurent Fabius and the president of France, François Hollande, on the other side, very clearly they are saying, 'This is the best we're going to get, not just now, but probably ever. Grab it with both hands,'" May said in an interview.
"And then we start the work, which is substantial, to constantly push for greater levels of emission reductions than what we now have."
The Green Party later tweeted its congratulations to May, McKenna and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Not far enough, critics say
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The Pembina Institute, a Canadian environmental think-tank, said Canada will only be able to meet the emissions targets under the new Paris Agreement if it brings in a national minimum standard for carbon pricing.
"On their own, provincial commitments will not ensure Canada does its fair share to reduce emissions consistent with the science of global warming," Pembina's federal policy director, Erin Flanagan, said in a statement.
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