Thousands of activists have gathered at the Eiffel Tower to denounce the draft of the climate change accord made at the Paris talks. More than 6,500 people took to the streets to express doubt over the agreements, saying the bar was set too low for success.
Siriol Hugh-Jones, a demonstrator from the UK, said, There was a lot of talk, and it was great that the smaller countries were talking about 1.5 degrees, but there was no agreement reached, and the richer countries are doing nothing about it. Theyre too much in the pockets of the oil and gas corporations.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced earlier on 12 December that the talks had resulted in a landmark agreement to let long-term goals to eliminate greenhouse gasses this century. However, many activists say it is not enough, and bigger countries are not contributing enough.
We are of course disappointed with the first version of the text, and Im sure well be even more disappointed with the last version of the text. But civilians have shown that theyre the ones who had the solutions and not the governments, an activist from the NGO Zero Waste France, Delphine Levi Alvares, said.
Some scientists said before the talks in Paris even began that the proposed cuts may not be enough to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius. As of now we dont know if this accord will be binding or not, but I dont have much hope for this accord. I think that if things change, it will start with the mobilisation of citizens, by changing our habits, especially our consumption habits. Governments can help us, but theyre not the ones who are at the root of real change, a student from Paris, Juliette Cholay, said.
