World leaders and negotiators have reached a political accord that would lead to a new treaty on global warming, though key details of a binding legal text will have to be left for later negotiations.
According to a “draft agreement text” of a “Copenhagen Accord” obtained by The Globe and Mail, countries have agreed to adopt measures that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050, with developed countries aiming for an 80 per cent reduction.
The goal is to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, in an effort to avoid the most calamitous impacts of climate change.
The draft statement calls climate change “one of the greatest challenges of our time” and says it will require “strong political will to urgently combat” it.