In the hope of mitigating the effects of climate change, the United Nations has started moving toward involving all countries in the effort. After all, climate change will affect everyone.
The organization still has a long way to go, but 2014 was a big year for climate policy, most especially after negotiations in Lima, Peru for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change successfully ended in December.
With an agreement from 190 nations in hand, each one promising to reduce emissions, the U.N. is ready for the climate summit in Paris scheduled for late 2015.
Since the organization needs the cooperation of bigger nations in making climate policies work, it's a big boost to the U.N. effort that China, the worst emission offender in the world, has already set a goal to stick to a ceiling limit on emissions by 2030. This goal is complemented by the United States' own, which aims to cut emissions by up to 28 percent of its current use by 2025. Both countries also hope to bolster clean energy development, promoting the use of nonfossil fuel sources for energy.
While big nations cooperating is a definite plus to the climate effort, the U.N. still needs smaller nations to work with the organization, particularly when they are the ones most at risk for the effects of climate change in the world.
Because many of the smaller nations don't have the means to finance proper mitigation projects, the Green Climate Fund is stepping in, providing funding assistance to nations that need it the most. Started in 2009, it received little support in the beginning but it now has $10 billion in pledges, set to be finalized in Paris in 2015.
It's a good thing to have money to spend as it gives nations the opportunity to acquire the clean technologies they need for a greener future. Renewables used to be too costly, turning away a lot of interested parties. Now that renewable energy is more affordable, there are more incentives to taking advantage of cleaner alternatives, most especially when the Green Climate Fund can lend a hand.
When the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, it sought to bind the European community and 37 industrialized countries into committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The treaty expired in 2012, so a new set of climate policies must be enacted to take its place.
Preliminary negotiations are done, but nothing is final until next year's climate summit. Based on what was achieved in 2014, though, goals will be met slowly but surely.