Final Report From the Lima Climate Conference

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Lima, Peru, took about two extra days to finish a new agreement, concluding early Sunday morning. The agreement will form the foundation of the global climate agreement due in Paris next December that is to replace the 1997 legally binding Kyoto Protocol.

The Lima Call for Climate Action calls on countries to submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), the measuring and reporting indices, starting in March 2015. Measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions is a high priority because it is the data necessary for the UN’s passionate desire to eventually tax carbon that would amass trillions of dollars annually for redistribution around the globe.

Even with the U.S. on board for INDCs, China and India pushed back, because they know that a tax on greenhouse gas emissions would greatly increase their cost of luring new industries.

The Lima agreement calls for emissions reduction targets and requires all countries to quantify both greenhouse gas emissions limits and  proposed contributions to the UNFCCC’s Green Climate Fund that is to amass $100 billion annually by 2020, growing to $500 billion annually by 2050. The UNFCCC secretariat will publish the contributions.

Ignoring the fact that the earth has not warmed since 1998, non-governmental organizations accused the fossil fuel industry of being “the biggest barrier to progress.” They complained that the Lima Call for Climate Action stopped short of declaring an end to the use of fossil fuels by 2050, but hope to gain further commitments when the UNFCCC meets again in February and June. The NGO, 350.org, accused rich countries of, “dragging their feet on everything from finance to emissions reductions” but celebrated the “goal’s inclusion in the draft text is a win for the fossil fuel divestment movement.”

Americans can breathe a sigh of relief at the conclusion of this year’s UNFCCC, but we must remain vigilant to observe future global plans that would have a tremendous impact on our standard of living.