Critics have attacked the Lima climate change agreement, claiming it will not be effective. The deal, agreed by 196 countries, operates on an entirely voluntary basis and has no method of enforcing reductions in carbon emissions. China objected to independent oversight of carbon reduction and the United States agreed not to push ahead on the matter.
This is the first climate change agreement in which developing countries have agreed to reduce emissions; previous deals, such as the Kyoto Protocol, involved reductions only by wealthy nations. Developing countries, like India and China, will have to reduce less than their developed counterparts because their economies need greater room to grow.
Climate change campaigners and scientists have claimed that this deal does not go far enough to tackle the problem. Nations only need to show their reduction plans are ‘fair’ and ‘ambitious’. Another conference is set to take place in Paris next year, with any agreement made there coming into force in 2020.