Will Geneva Be Enough?

Negotiators have met for the latest climate conference in Geneva, Switzerland with a heavy burden on their shoulders. “Many issues that could have been resolved in Lima were pushed into this year’s negotiations instead” said Samantha Smith, leader ofWorld Wide Fund’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative. To make matters worse, these Geneva talks are the only scheduled negotiations before an upcoming May deadline requiring a draft text of a binding climate change agreement to be finalized for Paris talks in December. Three critical areas must be addressed this conference in order to impede global warming from reaching dangerous levels: 1. A global climate agreement that will enter into force in 2020. 2. National efforts to increase renewable energy and reduce climate pollution prior to the 2020 agreement. 3. Creating trust between governments that are partaking in the negotiation process. Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, stated that fighting climate change is “probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves” due to the complications of changing the current economic development model which has been in force since the Industrial Revolution. Transitioning from a fossil fuel to a renewable energy economy is a future that we need. Figueres is optimistic that we can solve issues associated with global warming. Negotiators need to realize delaying talks will not delay climate change. Solutions must be acted on now.   Avantika Manglik, Intern