Legarda Lauds Paris Climate Agreement, Hopes Nations Will Turn Commitment Into Urgent Action

December 13, 2015

Senator Loren Legarda today lauded the climate agreement forged in Paris following the two-week climate change negotiations involving 195 nations.

“The world has come together in this historic meeting to agree on the actions we need to take for the survival of mankind and of earth itself. The agreement may not be 100% the way we want it to be, but I am optimistic that all nations will be committed to doing their fair share of the deal,” said Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience.

“I commend the Philippine delegation and the negotiating team headed by the Climate Change Commission for their hard work, for being the voice of reason, and for asserting the rights of vulnerable nations,” she added.

The Philippines is the current chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum or CVF, a group of 43 developing nations vulnerable to climate change impacts. The CVF asserted that global warming should be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius and that the climate justice must be at the core of the Paris climate agreement, among others.

The main aim of the Paris climate agreement is to limit global temperature rise within the century “well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”

Key points in the agreement included the urgent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to achieve the temperature goal; a system of accounting for climate action; strengthen ability of nations to deal with and recover from climate impacts; and provide financial support for developing nations to build clean, climate-resilient futures.

“The agreement is just the beginning, because, as in my experience as a legislator, the greater challenge ahead is to implement what is on paper, to turn talk into urgent action, and to achieve meaningful results before it is too late,” Legarda concluded.