'Paris agreement is only the beginning' - Dalli

MEP Miriam Dalli, who formed part of a delegation that represented the European Parliament at the Paris Climate Change Summit, said that the final deal reached is just the beginning of an extended effort to control climate change.

“The Climate Change agreement reached in Paris is the first global deal on climate change. This is the first time that 195 countries managed to agree to decouple their economic growth from fossil fuel”, said Dalli during a debate in the Parliaments’ plenary session, a few days after the agreement was reached.

She continued by saying that COP21 was successful in that Paris managed to unite all countries together to take action - “Elements of the agreement are legally binding and it represents unmatched levels of cooperation, which saw governments, regions, businesses and campaigners coming together.”

Dalli however made it amply clear that much more needs to be done. “This is only the beginning. More needs to be done. It is vital that countries ratify this agreement. The current National Commitments (INDCs) need to be updated. As they stand today they are not sufficient to achieve the 1.5°C we are hoping for,” Dalli emphasised.

The Climate Summit in Paris aims at limiting the earth’s temparature by 2°C more than pre-industrial levels, aiming at a long-term goal of 1.5°C.

Dalli explained that now countries need to devise credible national plans to reach such targets, “it means that we require credible plans to decarbonise our economies and protect the most vulnerable from the devastating impacts of climate change.”

A major criticism by the Maltese MEP was that once again shipping and aviation were completely excluded from the final agreement. Furthermore, “it would have been better to have a specific date for the peaking of emissions, and I would have wanted to see more happen until 2020 and less opportunities for legislatures to fail to ratify.”

However she described the deal as a solid foundation. “What is different this time round is that we have a robust agreement, which lays a solid foundation for a more stable and better climate.”