Kuwait firm on combating climate change

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PARIS, Nov 30, (Agencies): Environment Public Authority (EPA) Director General Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah reaffirmed Monday that Kuwait is amongst the frontrunners in its attempts to reinforce international efforts to stem the effects of climate change. In comments to KUNA on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in the French capital Paris, Sheikh Abdullah underscored Kuwait’s steadfastness in collaborating with the international community to deal with the perils posed by the effects of climate change. His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is leading Kuwait’s delegation participating in the Paris Climate Change Conference, a move reflective of Kuwait’s willingness to “extend bridges of cooperation with the international community to combat climate change”, Sheikh Abdullah added.

Measures
The EPA Director General called on nations “irrespective of geographical location to take necessary measures to bolster capabilities of coping with the effects of climate change.” “The Climate Change Conference provides a platform for ensuring a more prosperous future,” he said. More than 100 heads of state and 40,000 other attendees have converged in Paris for the launch of a two-week UN conference on climate change. Negotiators expect the conference to yield the most significant international agreement yet to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and impede the effects of climate change. French President Francois Hollande and UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon early Monday began welcoming over 150 world leaders to the latest UN Climate Change Conference, dubbed “COP21” which begins today and is expected to run until Dec 11. All major world leaders have agreed to attend the opening session Monday and several will remain for the following day to give impetus into the COP21’s goals of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius until the end of the century. The conference also seeks to raise $100 billion annually to help offset the negative economic effects of climate change on developing nations and to assist them with their eco systems. Among major powers attending, President Barack Obama arrived in Paris late Sunday and is attending the opening session. Vladimir Putin of Russia and Chinese leader Xi Jinpeng are also participating, as are major leaders from around the globe.

Delegation
The Kuwaiti delegation to COP21 is led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubrak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, who is representing His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah here in Paris. The delegation also includes First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and a number of senior advisors and officials from the Kuwaiti Government. While there is a broad consensus among participants that it is urgent, even critical, to tackle global warming and limit CO2 emissions, there remain divergences over how this should be done and on the burden-sharing among major polluters. Nicolas Hulot, Hollande’s Special Advisor for the Planet and a key player in COP21, last week said to KUNA and Anglo-American Press journalists that he felt the conference would be a success, even because of the fact that the whole planet is present to manifest concern about the situation.

But he also admitted that “the glass was half full or half empty” depending on whether one is optimistic or not.” He believes an agreement can be reached over the next two weeks. One of the key issues that is still unresolved is setting an “agreed price for carbon” upon which compensations and adjustments from polluter to non-polluter would be gauged. Also very important, he said, is that there is no agreement on how the COP21 accord, if there is an accord by Dec 11, would be “legally binding. “ The US President has made it clear that a legallybinding agreement would not likely pass in the US Congress. “There will be a pre-Paris and a post- Paris in any event,” Hulot said in his remarks, emphasising that these discussions would have an impact on the future.

The French Presidency announced Monday that 195 countries plus the European Union would take part in the COP21 being held in the “Le Bourget” zone north of Paris. In addition, 2,000 associations and a total of 14,000 delegates from NGOs will be present on site. Security is extremely tight in France because of the Nov 13 terror attacks in and around Paris which killed 130 people. Almost 3,000 Gendarmes are deployed at Le Bourget and 8,000 extra police have been deployed on France’s borders to monitor people entering the country, while a total of 120,000 security personnel, police, army and Gendarmes are on duty around the country. President Obama said Monday that he felt the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference would be a “turning point” whereby the international community would take up the challenge of climate change and global warming. Speaking at the conference, which is also dubbed the COP21, Obama called on world leaders to take the needed steps “for our children” and to leave a legacy that will be viewed positively. “This is the moment we finally determine to save our planet. It is a fact that our nations share a sense of urgency about this challenge and a growing realisation that it is within our power to do something about it,” the US leader told 150 world leaders and participants from over 190 countries.

The largest group of world leaders ever to stand together kicked off two weeks of high-stakes climate talks outside Paris on Monday, saying that striking an ambitious deal to curb global warming can show terrorists what countries can achieve when they are united. “What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it?” President Obama asked his fellow world leaders. The UN-organized gathering of 151 heads of state and government comes at a somber time for France, two weeks after militants linked to the Islamic State group killed 130 people around Paris. Fears of more attacks prompted extra-high security and a crackdown on environmental protests. The conference is aimed at the most far-reaching deal ever to tackle global warming. The last major agreement, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, required only rich countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions, and the US never signed on. Since then, global temperatures and sea levels have continued to rise, and the Earth has seen an extraordinary run of extreme weather. “The future of the people of the world, the future of our planet, is in your hands,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told negotiators in his opening remarks. “We cannot afford indecision, half measures or merely gradual approaches. Our goal must be a transformation.” More than 180 countries have already submitted individual national plans, but a climate deal is by no means guaranteed. Among several sticking points is money — how much rich countries should invest to help poor countries cope with climate change, how much should be invested in renewable energy, and how much traditional oil, gas and coal producers stand to lose if countries agree to forever reduce emissions. Reviving the rich-poor differences that caused earlier climate talks to fail, Chinese President Xi Jinping said an eventual global deal must include aid for poor countries and acknowledge differences between developing and established economies.

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