This Saturday marks the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement.

-

NEW CHINA / SIPA;

This Saturday marks the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement adopted on the last day of the COP (Conference of the Parties) 21 in Paris.

"The most beautiful and the most peaceful of the revolutions which has just been accomplished", launched François Hollande, then President of the Republic, from the platform, where euphoric speeches were linked.

But what exactly are we celebrating?

 20 Minutes invites

you to go back five years, with a little quiz.

History to refresh your memory.

Some answers to this quiz deserved further explanation that we specify here. 

"Shall" or "should"

Let's start with this quack of "shall" and "should", one of the grains of salt that almost derailed the Paris agreement.

In the latest version of the text, the United States identifies in Article 4.4, a major paragraph of the agreement, the use of the word "shall" in the following sentence: "Developed countries must continue to be on the front line to carry out national plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ”.

A term that bristles the hair of Lien: John Kerry, then US Secretary of State, who asks to replace it with “should”, less restrictive.

As it stands, the sentence could have led the Obama administration to have to present the text before the American Congress, then dominated by the Republicans, who would never have ratified it.

We should also see in this request, no doubt, to impart to this text a spirit as less restrictive and as "voluntary" as possible.

Laurent Fabius returns to this "quack" in a documentary devoted to Link: behind the scenes at COP21 and to see online.

Nicaragua, not in the general euphoria

It was not Australia which asked to speak just at the moment of Laurent Fabius' hammer blow, but Nicaragua.

In the home stretch, the Central American country continued to disagree with the draft agreement.

He pleaded for the creation of a compensation fund based on the historical responsibility of northern countries in global warming and for Central America to be included in the group of vulnerable countries.

The country also considered the text not sufficiently ambitious. 

The president of the COP21 ignored the request to speak of the representative of Nicaragua and struck the mallet on his desk, reported Lien: Le Monde, who then quotes a French negotiator: "If Nicaragua had spoken to this moment, it would have been necessary to interrupt the plenary session for several hours, Laurent Fabius had the right reaction.

Nicaragua signed the Paris climate agreement only in October 2017, among the last.

Planet

Five years of the COP21: "Despite the uncertainties and geopolitical shocks, the spirit of the Paris agreement holds firm", believes Sébastien Treyer

Planet

Paris Agreement: Five years later, Greta Thunberg criticizes "empty promises"

  • Global warming

  • Planet

  • Climate change

  • Paris Agreement

  • Weather

  • COP21