Can the COP23 Conference, starting next week in Bonn, be a worthy successor to COP21, which produced the Paris Agreement? The Paris conference succeeded in getting near-unanimous support for setting global climate targets. A report on NBC news by Daniel Arkin, says the United Nations is taking an urgent stand on the increasingly high levels of carbon dioxide concentrations. The U.N. sites a new report by the World Meteorological Organization that claims CO2 levels are reaching unprecedented levels not seen since three to five million years ago. Countries attending the Bonn conference need to understand the implication of this dangerous trend which is expected to cause temperatures to hit perilous levels by 2100.
What needs to happen in Bonn is that countries need to commit to achieving higher targets that cut back heat-trapping carbon emissions. Most nations at Bonn will accede to setting new goals. However, COP23 must also instill a sense of urgency among the attendees to act to meet those goals. It must rouse the political will to set the policies, make the investments, overcome the inevitable bureaucratic obstacles, ruffle the feathers and gore the oxes of the privileged, override all arguments for delay or inaction, vanquish the forces of entropy, implement speedily the changes needed to ensure a livable planet for generations to come.
