After multiple drafts, long nights of negotiation, protests and petitions, the Paris climate agreement is written and adopted.
Over the course of two weeks at the Le Bourget convention hall, negotiators whittled down the document from a sprawling list of options, to a set of actions, commitments, and procedures agreeable enough for nearly 200 countries to accept. That alone is cause for celebration, according to some of the Paris deal’s biggest backers.
“This is a tremendous victory for all of our citizens — not for any one country or any one bloc, but for everybody here who has worked so hard to bring us across the finish line. It’s a victory for all of the planet and for future generations,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday in Paris.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
