One year from now, the next U.N. Climate Change Conference — officially known as the 21st Conference of the Parties or COP21 — will be held in Paris. A lot of work remains to be done to reach an ambitious, legally binding agreement that will give the world a chance to counter the devastating effects of global warming.
Two weeks ago, COP20 ended in Lima, Peru. After two weeks and two extra days of intense discussions, COP20 resulted in the Lima Call for Climate Action, which asked all nations to make plans to curb their carbon emissions, thus unlocking the door for a Paris deal in 2015. However, environmental campaigners including CARE International and a number of small, vulnerable countries have criticized the agreement for being weak.
Many critical and controversial issues have been postponed. For example, Lima did not resolve whether the Paris agreement will be legally binding, or how public funding for developing nations to reduce their emissions will be generated. The funding process is still based on voluntary pledges.