The Eiffel Tower lights up in December 2015 with an advocacy message for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. “History will remember this day,” the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, said amid a backdrop of diplomats cheering and hugging. Third after China and the United States in total world emissions, the bloc has pledged a 40 percent cut below 1990 levels by 2030. In other words, the United States’ rejection of its pledge could push the entire globe backward on its goal of lowering temperatures. The Climate Action Tracker, meanwhile, lists a number of major countries that have both insufficiently strong pledges and too little action to meet them.

Source: Washington Post February 19, 2018 20:52 UTC