Leaders gather for historic climate change deal amid worldwide protests

Thousands of demonstrators urge world leaders to demand action to stop climate change

World leaders are expected to descend on Paris for the start of a two-week United Nations Climate Change summit that is expected to produce a historic agreement among nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Together with nearly 150 world leaders, including the leaders of the United States, China and India – the world’s top three carbon-emitting countries – Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will attend the opening day of the event in Paris on Monday.

On the eve of the UN summit in Paris, demonstrations took place around the world to demand action to stop climate change, telling world leaders gathering for a summit in Paris there is "No Planet B" in the fight against global warming.

In the French capital, where demonstrations were banned by the authorities in the wake of the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people, activists laid out more than 20,000 pairs of shoes in the Place de la Republique to symbolize absent marchers. About 10,000 people also joined arms to form a human chain through Paris along the 3 km route of the banned march. A gap in the chain was left in front of the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed.

Almost all the demonstrations were peaceful but, after the human chain protest in Paris, riot police fired tear gas and clashed with about 200 protesters, some wearing masks, in the Place de la Republique.

Elsewhere more than 2,000 events were held in cities including London, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Berlin, and in New York, approximately 310,000 people took part in the biggest single march on climate change.  

Ahead of the summit, 183 countries accounting for nearly 95% of global greenhouse gas emissions have tabled pledges to cut their carbon emissions. If implemented, the proposals would be enough to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Celsius - not the 2-degree threshold at which scientists say most of the worst effects of climate could be avoided.

Scientific advice shows that warming above 2°C is likely to lead to consequences such as extreme weather, droughts, floods and sea-level rises.

The United Nations has pledged to limit climate change to 2C, while on Saturday, leaders of Commonwealth nations gathered in Malta for the CHOGM said they might be willing to back an attempt to hold the increase in global average temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The climate change summit, which comes amid record global high temperatures and drought – also hopes that developing nations will identify their own emission cuts and pledge to meet them, while nations will be urged to reduce fossil fuel emissions and shift to renewable energy. Fuel emissions, mostly the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.

Scientists have said that higher temperatures, extreme weather and higher sea levels are all a consequence of global warming, placing a number of islands and low-lying countries at risk.

However, disagreements over the global warming temperature has seen experts expressing doubts on whether world leaders can agree and warned that the Paris summit may on a practical level, produce no tangible results.

Similarly, a group of 26 Maltese environmental NGOs expressed their doubts at the outcome of the United Nationals Climate Change conference and held that a weak agreement would do little to slow down climate change.

In a joint statement, the NGOs said millions of people died as a result of the world leaders’ inaction, and that the poorer nations have suffered the most – even though they are not responsible for the world’s pollution. The environmental NGOs also urged developed countries to make the deepest emission cuts.