Both French President François Hollande and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made extremely fervent opening speeches in support for the COP21. The two speeches stressed the leaders’ high expectations from the representatives of the more than 150 nations gathered in Paris. A new and surprising objective was suggested by Hollande: to bring the maximum temperature increase by the end of the century limit down to 1.5ºC from the 2ºC. This extremely ambitious objective, an audacious bet in fact, has been echoed by developing countries . In the developed world, only environmentalists were mentioning that low number, prior to this meeting. What that would mean in terms of emissions is not entirely clear except what is known from model results. A complete elimination of fossil fuels usage would bring the temperature lower by 1.3ºC by the end of the century. So a 1.5ºC objective would correspond to a dramatic reduction of emissions (more than 90 percent) very soon, essentially now.
François Hollande started his presentation by stating he was talking in the name of Climate Justice, a new phrase coming from a head of state in the developed world. Prior to this meeting it was heard in the mouths of either civil society representatives or by representatives of the developing countries.
Hollande listed three main objectives for this COP21. Among them he mentioned the design of a credible trajectory to keep the temperature increase to 2ºC and even 1.5ºC, with a regular evaluation of progress every five years. He emphasized the need to come up with a universal agreement that offers a response that will bring nations together, even as there is differentiation of actions among countries according to their means. He insisted that no territory should be left alone to face climate change and presented himself as a spokesperson for the nations that are at risk of disappearing, like small island nations.