Most EU media report on the end of the COP21 Climate Conference in Paris, which produced a last minute agreement to reduce greenhouse effect gas emissions. Several media have positive opinions about the deal.
YLE TV1 reports that the agreement is more ambitious than expected. El País’ Xavier Vidal-Folch writes that the deal on climate change means an “infinite diplomatic success” after eighteen years of failure in agreeing on an emissions reduction path, and sets “clear, attainable global goals” with individual commitments undersigned and quantified by 187 countries out of the 195 attending the summit. Contrary to the Kyoto protocol, it includes the entire international community in tackling “one of the most complex questions humanity has ever been confronted with,” as Ban Ki-Moon said, as quoted by Le Monde.
Researcher Tomas Wyns comments in Belgian media that this is the best agreement one could have hoped for. According to the International New York Times, analysts and experts say that the climate accord agreed in Paris is a signal to businesses and investors that the era of carbon reduction has arrived. Het Financieele Dagblad comments that French minister Laurent Fabius did very well chairing the summit. Nevertheless, according to BBC Radio 4, some people are worried that the deal lacked any details of how its ambitious targets will be met.
In Jornal de Notícias’ editorial, Paula Ferreira writes that the agreement quantifies nothing and was reached by the same men who are unable to address the refugee crisis, the economic crisis and the conflict in Syria. BBC Radio 4, Die Welt and Salzburger Nachrichten comment on Energy & Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete’s reaction. Salzburger Nachrichten, Telemadrid and Die Welt write that he was visibly satisfied by the deal and that the new climate agreement “exceeded” his expectations. Nevertheless, Stephanie Pack, writing in the Austrian Daily, warns that there is much work to do, claiming that the Commissioner will have to deal with the challenges raised by the Climate Conference before being truly satisfied.
“Today, we celebrate,” said Miguel Arias Cañete, as quoted by the New York Times. “Tomorrow, we have to act.” Asked if the EU was doing enough to meet its targets, on BBC Radio 4, Arias Cañete replied: “The European Union, in the Kyoto protocol, accepted a 20% emissions reduction target… we implemented legislation and today we are at [a] 23% reduction in emissions instead of the target of 20%…Now we have a target of a 40% reduction in emissions. We have improved our emissions trading system [and] we will have to pass new legislation… to act in the transport, building and agricultural sectors, and we will review our CO2 emissions for cars and light vans to fulfil our commitments.”
©europeanunion2015
