Opinion: Global warning entails a quicker Lima deal

At no time has a global deal on climate change looked more likely than it does today. In October, European Union leaders agreed ambitious climate and energy targets for 2030, including a binding domestic greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least 40 percent.

Our announcement injected a new momentum into the global climate negotiations. And very recently, the US and China announced their future targets. This was encouraging news. And yet if we are going to secure a binding, meaningful global deal on climate change, this month will be just as crucial.

From Dec 1 to 12, representatives from every country in the world will gather in Lima for a crucial conference to try and lay the ground work for a global deal on climate change that world leaders have committed to agreeing in Paris this time next year.

There is no doubt that action is urgently needed to push toward the decarbonization of the global economy and to make lasting progress on an unprecedented global challenge. The impacts of climate change are being felt on every continent, from the melting of the great glaciers of South America to the retreating sea ice of the Arctic.

Human influence on the climate is clear. In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) showed that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased to their highest levels ever. And the longer we carry on disturbing the climate, the greater the risks we will face and the more costly it will become to adapt to the changes.

But what is also clear from the IPCC report is that our internationally agreed target of keeping global warming below 2 C remains within our grasp. And we must ensure this is reflected in bold contributions to the global climate change agreement.