Paris COP21 Climate Change Conference 2015

About the Series

The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in December 2015, in Paris, France. Governments representing more than 190 nations agreed an historic new global Paris Agreement on climate change. The aim is to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous climate change.

Scientists have warned that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we will pass the threshold of 2C global warming above pre-industrial temperatures; beyond this climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible. Current climate commitments expire in 2020, so governments must now produce an agreement on what happens after that.

Carbon dioxide is one of the main drivers of climate change and burning fossil fuels is a primary source of this greenhouse gas. To tackle climate change we must therefore significantly reduce our reliance on coal, oil and gas – an unwelcome idea for big energy companies whose profits rely on these assets. This DeSmog UK series showcases our coverage from inside the COP21 conference. It also investigates the fossil fuel industry’s actions in the lead up to and during the Paris climate conference. 

In This Series

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BY KYLA MANDEL AND BRENDAN MONTAGUE IN PARIS An historic deal to limit global warming to “well below 2C” and to make every effort to keep temperate increase to 1.5C will be agreed by 195 nations to...
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The end of the fossil fuel era is being signalled loud and clear here at the Paris climate conference as ministers enter the final hours of negotiations. It's crunch time and everyone is saying the...
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BY KYLA MANDEL AND BRENDAN MONTAGUE IN PARIS Amber Rudd has joined a “high ambition coalition” along with the European Union during tense negotiations at the UNFCCC Paris climate change negotiation...
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The issue of loss and damage has emerged as one of the top issues for negotiators at the Paris climate talks. Swedish and Bolivian ministers have been leading the discussions on loss and damage, tr...
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BY KYLA MANDEL AND BRENDAN MONTAGUE IN PARIS Oil rich Saudi Arabia is leading a campaign to sabotage attempts by countries on the front line of climate change to include an ambitous 1.5C target for...
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BY KYLA MANDEL AND BRENDAN MONTAGUE IN PARIS French energy giant Engie is perhaps the most prominent and most promoted corporate sponsor of the COP21 climate talks in Paris. Engie, formerly known a...
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BY BRENDAN MONTAGUE AND KYLA MANDEL IN PARIS David Cameron flew into Paris to warn negotiators at the COP21 talks that politicians will be betraying future generations unless they deal with climate...
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Some corporate sponsors of the COP21 Paris climate talks are failing to properly report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions a new report reveals. The Paris climate conference is sponsored by over ...
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A lot of people today have been asking whether the ‘French gamble’ paid off. Did having over 150 heads of state in Paris for the first day of COP21 set the bar for ambitious, meaningful and success...
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BY BRENDAN MONTAGUE AND KYLA MANDEL IN PARIS David Cameron blustered through his three minute speech before 146 fellow world leaders in Paris tonight for the COP21 negotiations by imagining future ...
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KYLA MANDEL AND BRENDAN MONTAGUE IN PARIS Bill Shorten, the Labor leader, attacked Australian climate policy as lacking in ambition today at the Paris climate conference. Shorten held an impromtu p...
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BY BRENDAN MONTAGUE AND KYLA MANDEL IN PARIS Fossil fuel subsides totalling $500 billion globally must be scrapped to prevent catastrophic climate change, the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Gr...
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David Cameron is addressing the world today at the opening leaders’ event at the Paris COP21 climate conference. The British Prime Minister has until now remained almost entirely silent on the issu...
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BY KYLA MANDEL AND BRENDAN MONTAGUE IN PARIS Barack Obama knows COP21 is his legacy moment. His presidency has been book-ended by the two most critical international climate summits – the disastrou...
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The time has finally arrived. We're on the Eurostar heading to Paris for the COP21 climate conference kick-off. On Monday, the world is meeting in Paris to (hopefully) agree a deal that will curb ...
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BY BRENDAN MONTAGUE AND KYLA MANDEL IN PARIS Barack Obama is leading a clandestine international project to establish a Communist-fascist world government through the United Nations COP21 climate c...
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BY BRENDAN MONTAGUE AND KYLA MANDEL IN PARIS Amber Rudd is expected to arrive back in Paris today to lead Britain's negotiators at the climate COP21 talks as her own energy policy appeared to be in...
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The first batch of corporate sponsors for December’s climate negotiations in Paris has officially been revealed. Among them are big-name polluters Engie (formerly GDF Suez), Air France, and the Eur...