UN Climate Change Conference aims

Can the Climate Change Conference make a deal? What is the UN’s aim? How might different countries approach the talks?

What are the conference aims? The UN has agreed that global warming should be limited to no more than 20C. The conference needs to keep countries to their promises. António Guterres’s is the UN secretary general. His job is to help reach an agreement between 195 UN countries, plus the EU. To do that there will need to be some give and take: countries will need to negotiate and make compromises. The conference must succeed: there is no Plan B for the world. But we already have many examples of success.

Total (thousand tonnes) What are the challenges? Developed countries like the UK developed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries. They created most of the CO2 in the atmosphere today, and still produce most CO2 per person. Emerging countries like China are developing rapidly now. They produce most CO2 today, and their emissions are rising. Some rely on using large amounts of fossil fuels. Developing countries mostly have low emissions, but are experiencing many of the effects of climate change. CO2 emissions Total (thousand tonnes) Developed 12,914,000 Emerging 21,075,000 Developing 159,000 CO2 emissions Per person (tonnes) Developing 11.1 Emerging 3.9 Developed 0.2

What is needed to reach agreement? Wealthy countries won’t want to put a stop to their development. Many have already begun to reduce their CO2 emissions. They could benefit from developing clean technology. Emerging and developing countries need a way to develop and become prosperous without high emissions. Many developing countries need help to adapt to climate change. Some emerging countries are already developing renewable energy. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

What’s needed to reach agreement? How will greenhouse gas emissions be reduced? How will the damage to the atmosphere be cleaned up? Where will the money to help countries adapt come from? How will everyone agree?

Who’s coming to our conference? Country Australia India Bangladesh Maldives China Philippines Ethiopia Saudi Arabia France UK Germany USA How will climate change affect each country? What aims do different countries have for the conference? Who are their allies? What tricky choices do they face? GLP © Crown Copyright