IS the objective of containing global warming to below 2˚C to combat climate change attainable? France’s Special Envoy for the Protection of the Planet Nicolas Hulot said such would be achieved if the 194 countries to the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP21) and the European Commission will agree to a binding agreement that would aim to limit global temperature to below 2˚C.
France will host the COP21 from November 30 to December 11 this year. Hulot met with local government officials of Tacloban and Guian on Saturday, as well as civil-society representatives and officials from UN agencies working on the ground.
He discussed with them the reconstruction efforts and risk prevention on climate change.
“We are now in a defining moment of humankind,” Hulot said at a media briefing on Friday night at the French ambassador’s residence in Makati where he was joined by French Ambassador Gilles Garachon. During the briefing it was also announced that President François Hollande will have a state visit to the Philippines on February 26 and 27.
Hulot said Hollande’s visit would also focus on the issue of climate change.
He said the COP21 is responsible for the following: strengthening international cooperation, monitoring the implementation of the Convention, examining engagements with the parties, sharing new scientific discoveries and experiences gained in the implementation of policies; and evaluating the effectiveness and progress of the measures taken by parties.
He said that, to be able to achieve these objectives, the convention should be complemented by a “strict emission-reduction agreement” and “ the 2-˚C goal is recommended by the scientists and is the only target within reach.”
“The aim of this agreement is to convince this 195 countries to decrease the temperature,” he added.
“The phenomenon will become irreversible if the temperature will continue to increase.”
He said the agreement should be based on the principle of equity and in accordance with common, but differentiated, responsibilities.
The agreement must be based on two pillars: a clear direction toward a low-carbon world, a perspective which shall be integrated by all actors, and a clear and transparent framework, allowing for the adoption of incentives and support and transfer of technologies toward developing countries.
Hulot will be traveling to Tacloban, Guiuan and Cebu this weekend before ending his mission in the Philippines. He said his visit to the Philippines is very important noting the “tragic experience of the last year when Supertyphoon Yolanda [international code name Haiyan] hit the country.” He said: “The vulnerable population [to climate change are] in the Philippines and in other countries like Africa.”
He will visit Daanbantayan in Cebu, where the France-Philippines United Action (FPUA), a group of French companies in the Philippines, which was formed after Yolanda’s destruction occurred.
FPUA is implementing reconstruction and rehabilitation projects commonly named “French Villages.” It has constructed 222 disaster-resilient houses in two sites in Daanbantayan.
In Manila Hulot has met with Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario, Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje, Climate Change Commissioner Lucille Sering, and Sen. Loren Legarda with whom he discussed climate-change issues and to begin preparations for the state visit of Hollande.
He also had meetings with various non-governmental organizations, private enterprises and experts and students from different universities, such as the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University and the University of the Philippines.
Hulot said the target of 2˚C requires a “significant reduction of emissions from all sectors through a swift modification of practices.” Production and energy consumption are central to the effort by almost totally eliminating emissions from the generation of electricity and with the adoption of practices with greater energy efficiency, he added.
Hulot said that, in 2010, France emitted an average of 5.6 tons of carbon. In 2005 the country adopted a national plan of cutting a quarter of its emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
Image credits: Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco