Climate change - the time for action is running out

WITH less than six months to go until the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015, the time to act on climate change is now.

To mark European Climate Diplomacy Day on June 17, events will be organised worldwide to raise awareness on positive climate action. Here in Singapore, the European Union delegation together with the missions of Belgium, France, Germany, Romania and the United Kingdom are organising a day of events on climate change. An interactive debate, held at ESSEC campus, will see Singapore's youth discuss the level of ambition necessary for success at the Paris conference. The business community will then join an expert-led panel discussion, at National Library Building, to highlight the benefits of low carbon economic growth, the role that business can play, the challenges they face and the opportunities available to them.

Countries across the globe have committed to create a new international climate agreement by the conclusion of the COP21. Their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) are currently being submitted to publicly outline what post-2020 climate actions each country will take under the new agreement. These INDCs will show whether the world is collectively committed to keeping future global warming within two degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels, thereby putting us on a path toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.