When, at the annual United Nations climate conference in Paris in 2015, the countries of the world agreed to the goal of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, it seemed possible, probable even, that humanity was on track to avoid the worst effects of climate change. This new target was even more stringent than the one proposed seven years prior in Kyoto, reflecting advancements in scientific research and policymakers’ willingness to meet the urgency of the moment. Champions of the Paris Agreement, as it was called, included both the world’s mega-emitters like the United States and China and the small island nations most vulnerable to sea level rise.
“Today, the world meets the moment,” former President Barack Obama said in a speech in the Rose Garden on the date that the Agreement officially took effect. “And if we follow through on the commitments that this agreement embodies, history may well judge it as a turning point for our planet.”
