Turning the Paris Climate Agreement into Action

The world must move quickly to fulfill the promise of the climate change agreement reached in Paris four months ago and accelerate low-carbon growth, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said on the opening day of the Spring Meetings. More than 190 countries came together last December to pledge to do their part to halt global warming. The result was an unprecedented agreement to keep warming below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times, with the goal of limiting warming to 1.5° C. With the formal signing of the Paris Agreement just a week away, it’s time to seize the moment and make the financial argument for a shift to renewables, Kim said.

“This is an absolutely critical issue. We have to move now, because the real losers will be every single one of our children and grandchildren,” said Kim. He spoke at a livestreamed event, Turning the Paris Agreement into Action, with Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, France’s Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ségolène Royal, Morocco’s Minister of Economy and Finance Mohamed Boussaid, and Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the G20’s Financial Stability Board.

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