What is the COP21?
COP21 is the 21st Conference of Parties. From 30 November to 11 December, it will gather in Le Bourget, near Paris, the representatives of 195 states signatory to the Framework Convention of the United Nations on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty entered into force in 1994 to fight against global warming.
Why is the COP21 described as “the last chance summit”?
Because the Kyoto Protocol, the last major international climate agreement signed in 1997, has not really paid off. The United States, one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have signed but refused to ratify it, and China as a “developing country”, has not been subject to binding targets. Moreover, the period of application of the Kyoto Protocol commitments, initially set for 2008-2012, has been extended until 2020, but the agreement was left significantly weakened because of the withdrawal of Russia, Japan and Canada.COP21 should lead to a new legally binding instrument that will be applied from 2020. The signatory states must then commit to implement measures to limit global warming. The goal: that the global temperature does not rise more than 2 ° C by 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels recorded at the end of the 19th century.