COP21 - Paris agreement points the direction for the transformation of our economies

And here we go, the long awaited COP is now finished and the Paris agreement has just been agreed unanimously and with a lot of emotions.

The deal is considered to be the best that could be reached and - for many, including the majority of NGOs - Paris does mark the entry into a new area. 

While some elements ���� such as on loss and damage - remain too vague and that we could have hoped the calendar to be fasted further, countries are now clearly pushed to raise their ambition. All are encouraged to make new and more ambitious climate pledges by 2018, time when a new IPCC report will also be released, in order to close the emissions gap as soon as possible.

The Greens are pleased to see that governments are aligned with climate science and that they agree to pursue efforts to limit global temperature increase at 1.5°. They also very much welcome the fact that the text underlines the importance of making finance flows consistent with this agreed objective (article 2). To get there, the world has clearly no other choice than to abandon fossil fuels in the next 35 years. States must now roll up their sleeves to take real actions on the ground. They must quickly transform their economies and redirect all their financial support to the development of renewable energy sources.

This Paris agreement now prompts the EU to increase the ambition of its own climate policy. For our official climate spokespersons Bas Eickhout and Yannick Jadot, the EU must now reassess its climate and energy targets for 2030 to be able to decarbonise its economy before 2050. The EU����s current targets and policies fall short in this regard����nbsp;

The Greens in the EU Parliament will continue pushing the EU to ensure that it does not miss any opportunity to reduce its pollution emissions.The fight against climate change does indeed continue, and the citizens ���� as we can see from this huge mobilisation that took place in the centre of Paris and other parts of the world today ���� are here to remind our leaders about it!