Collection 

Paris climate talks 2015

The United Nations Climate Talks in Paris, from 30 November to 11 December, have long been framed as the next milestone in the negotiations to limit global warming. Participating countries agreed that the meeting would culminate in a binding strategy for mitigating climate change, to come into effect by 2020.

The political landscape has changed since the hopeful, but ultimately disappointing, days of the 2009 climate negotiations in Denmark. There, politicians signed the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which recognized the need for climate-change mitigation, but lacked a pathway for implementation. This time, all parties to the negotiations have been invited to submit their specific plans for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions ahead of the meeting, and around 150 countries have already put their pledges on the table.

The nations’ promised actions are unlikely to add up to keeping the world from exceeding a global mean surface temperature of 2 oC above pre-industrial levels. But if all countries’ targets are implemented with sufficient oversight, and if the goals are tightened over time, then the world may finally find itself on a path towards a low-carbon economy — rather than moving away from it.

In this Collection, we present news, comment, overview and original-research articles that discuss what is at stake at the Paris climate talks, along with the scientific foundations for the negotiations.

Getting warmer: A Nature special of news and comment articles explores what is at stake in Paris, and the long and chequered history of international climate negotiations

Nature Tumblr page includes the latest breaking news from the Paris talks, with stories, photos and videos to keep you up-to-date on the progress of the negotiations. 

 
 

World leaders at the UN climate conference are trying for the 21st time to limit greenhouse gas-emissions. Here's a Scientific American collection on how they can finally reach meaningful agreements.

 

 

In this joint web focus, Nature Geoscience and Nature Climate Change present a series of overview articles and opinion pieces that explore how the world's carbon budget is being spent, and what needs to be done to catalyse transformational change.

Hand drawn image of a worn out looking, personified, cartoon globe in a medical / hospital setting with a thermometer in the globe's mouth.

Nature Video COP21 in Paris:

Margaret Leinen: An oceanographer at COP

Paris climate talks: The first week draws to a close

Saleemul Huq: Helping the most vulnerable to negotiate

Paris climate talks: Calm before the storm

Paris climate talks: Global problem, global deal

Paris climate talks: The consequences of climate change

Paris climate talks: The two degree limit

Here is the most recent offering from the Nature Multimedia Team on the Paris Climate Talks: