Climate summit reaches deal

After two long weeks of negotiations, the COP21 climate change summit in Paris has concluded, reaching a better deal than many had expected.

In an attempt to prevent the planet’s temperature rising by a significant two degrees (which would cause ice caps to melt, sea levels to rise and a whole new extreme climate for all parts of Earth), leaders from almost 200 countries have agreed to cut their country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The final draft of the deal that was released on Saturday evening includes peaking greenhouse gas emissions as early as possible in order to run them down sooner, keeping the global temperature increase below the sinister 2°C mark and aiming for 1.5°C as well as a review of the progress of the deal every five years. There will also be a $100 billion a year in the climate budget for developing countries by 2020, with a promise of further funding in years to come.

President of the UN climate conference and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: “I now invite the COP to adopt the decision entitled Paris Agreement outlined in the document… Looking out to the room I see that the reaction is positive, I see no objections. The Paris agreement is adopted.”

The agreement is both legally binding and a voluntary step that is welcomed by many environmentalists around the globe.