Paris Climate Conference thread: Nov. 30 thru Dec. 11, 2015

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Well this objectively went better than the disaster that was Copenhagen (or, to be cynical, was stage-managed far better). I see no reason for the OMG LOSERS LOL THEY FLY IN TEH PLANES unless you're trolling,

Though we can't really read people's minds, this is the first conference I've seen where the mood is urgent from all corners (including the private sector) rather than a bunch of world leaders turning up to add some progressive feathers to their caps before pledging a few dollars for "research". There does seem to be some tangible things being promised. Reforestation efforts are looking good, and African nations currently taking part in such projects are doing a good job at decrying the common belief that anything spent in that continent is wasted. The huge presence by subnational entities is good as well, especially in America where all federal legislation will be stymied for decades. The problem areas will be middling economies (SE Asia, Pakistan, India, S. Africa, the Balkans, Korea etc.), which have already invested in baseload grids but don't really qualify for direct aid and find it a bit galling to be asked to stop investing in new coal plants by nations that have historically produced the most emissions. Aside from that I'm more optimistic than I have been in a while. Coal, the worst fossil fuel, is being phased out in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, (probably) Germany and Denmark; and the industry's greed is largely killing itself off (imagine how effective a lobby coal would be if executives hadn't squished the unions to make moneh). The oil industry is also sabotaging itself, which is fun. Volkswagen has put an end to the clean diesel delusion. T Abbott and Harper were gone, leaving only a few isolated fossils (literally, in the case of the Saudi delegation). China now does more to mitigate its emissions than America is doing ("b-b-b-b-b-b-but China!!!"). The big thing is how much developed economies will stump up cashwise. The always sanctimonious Scandanavians will probably own us all, but some countries will be stingy or try and play fishy (e.g. the Japanese delegation trying to sell coal plants as part of their climate aid).

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Pollution levels set by each country, non binding, no way to force people to play ball.  Just like the last time.  I can't understand anybody liking this if you actually believe there will be catastrophic climate change in the next 50-100 years if we don't do something NOW.

a binding vote would have been impossible to force through the US Senate. Believe me, I'd have liked more to be done; but this is an order of magnitudes more optimistic than other deals.