In December of 2105, the Paris Climate Conference was held; in this conference, fifteen countries from around the world and 195 representatives adopted a legally-binding climate contract/deal. This contract/deal is the first of its kind to ever exist. This agreement was made to help put the world as a whole on track for a better future for our planet. The hope is to attempt to limit global warming to 35 °F, which is 2°C. Although this agreement was reached in 2015, it is not set to become fully enacted until 2020. Before we became such an industrialized world, the average global temperature was well below 35°f (2°c); now that we are so industrialized, that temperature has risen, causing global climate change. This agreement hopes to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases all around the world. As part of the agreement, governments will come together every 5 years to determine/set more goals in order to reach better climate change initiatives. These governments have also set up a transparency and accountability type of program where everyone must tell of the progress, or lack thereof, that they have made; this is to ensure that countries are keeping to the agreements set froth in the contract. Another thing that this contact hopes to do, is provide support to developing countries that may be feeling the affects of climate change more than industrialized ones are. This contract will hopefully better prepare countries to react to emergencies that could be associated with climate change, as well as understanding how to assist other countries in the case of emergencies. A very unfortunate thing is that poorer undeveloped countries have done very little compared to Western ones to assist in the rise of global warming, yet they are the ones who often suffer the most due to it. Many of these poorer countries pushed to have a legally binding part of the agreement that would give them at least $100 billion a year from richer countries to help them deal with the affects of climate change that they face; in the end, that did not happen. This agreement sets forth a change that must come about for all countries; it does not hold any one single country responsible. Many of the world leaders present at this meeting had stated that there would not be a plan B if this agreement was to fall threw; no plan B not because they had not came up with one, but because there literally is not one. The Eiffel Tower was illuminated with “no plan B” that very night. It was also talked about to begin using renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear more so than coal, natural gas, and oil; the renewable ones would greatly lessen carbon emissions. Secretary of State John Kerry had said that “the world has come together around an agreement that will empower us to chart a new path for our planet.” President Obama had said that “this agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is fully committed to a low-carbon future. We’ve shown that the world has both the will and the ability to take on this challenge.” The world and our planet as a whole are still in a deep hole heavily affected by climate change, but with efforts like this being made, it is safe to say we are trying to head in the right direction, and very well may be. In order for the things set forth in this agreement to continue to push us in the right direction, we will rely heavily on global-peer pressure to make sure countries are sticking to the agreements, and we will need to rely on the actions of future government officials. 

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