World leaders to gather in Paris for 'final' climate change conference

At the entrance to a temporary city in a Paris suburb, two 26-foot-tall white steel trees sport green, plastic mini-wind turbines. The leaf-like power generators will light up a “forest” of international flags to welcome 40,000 participants to what the Heartland Institute has called “one of the most important battles in the history of the global warming debate.”

According to the conference website, attendees to the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference will stroll covered, partially heated streets complete with relaxation areas and other amenities. They will use natural light or LED low-energy bulbs and ride bikes to recharge cellphones and tablets.

Conference planners expect negotiations to continue around-the-clock between Nov. 30 and Dec. 11, as delegates from nearly 200 countries attempt to hammer out agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Although several prior UN climate conferences have accomplished little, experts on both sides of the climate debate agree a lot hangs on Paris.

In a recent UN address, French President Francois Hollande said the decisions made at this conference will determine “if we are capable of preserving life on the planet.”

“If it is not done in Paris, it will be too late for the world,” he said.

Experts who disagree about dangerous, manmade global warming fear a different kind of disaster if the UN succeeds in reaching emission reduction agreements.

It would be a “bad deal for the United States,” S. Fred Singer, professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia, wrote in an opinion piece for The Washington Times.

Singer believes restrictive limits on greenhouse gas emissions would skyrocket the cost of energy, stifle economic growth, force industry to flee, and kill the job market.

President Barak Obama told Rolling Stone he is cautiously optimistic about the conference.

“And I believe that when we get to Paris at the end of this year, we’re now in a position for the first time to have all countries recognize their responsibilities to tackle the problem, and to have a meaningful set of targets as well as the financing required to help poor countries adapt,” he said.

But the president has good reason to temper his optimism. Finances are likely to be a major obstacle to international agreement.

Poorer developing countries want wealthier countries to provide financial aid to help them transition to clean-energy technologies, H. Sterling Burnett, research fellow on energy and the environment at the Heartland Institute, told the National Review. They also want money to adapt to the catastrophes environmentalists claim will result from global warming and compensate them for environmental harm they have allegedly suffered from developed countries’ fossil fuel use.

Developing countries say they will not sign any climate agreement if the United States does not make good on Obama’s promised contributions to the Green Climate Fund, an international commitment led by the United States to provide $100 billion a year in aid to developing countries by 2020.

“Obama cannot come to Paris and not put money on the table,” Ronny Jumeau, UN ambassador from the Seychelles told Reuters. “He’s got to put his money where his mouth is.”

But Obama may have little to put on the table. Congressional republicans have warned the Senate will not ratify any agreement Obama makes that requires steep greenhouse gas emission reductions or pay-offs to developing countries.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has alerted foreign embassies that Republicans intend to fight Obama’s climate agenda “until the end of his term and beyond,” Burnett wrote.

If countries do not reach agreement at Paris, they have no plan B, Miguel Cañete, European commissioner for climate action, told the Guardian.

“This is not just ongoing UN discussions; Paris is final,” he said.