UpFront - UN climate deal: Too little, too late?

Many across the world applauded last year when nearly 200 countries adopted the first ever agreement to address climate change.

Proponents of the Paris agreement say the deal signals a global commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses, but critics call it “worthless”, “weak” and “not strong enough”.

So, is the Paris agreement a historic victory or dangerous distraction?

In the Arena, Mehdi Hasan asks UN Climate Chief Christiana Figueres if the Paris agreement is too little, too late.

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[rapauli]

We were promised that we could fly, so we stepped out of the airplane without a parachute. We can only knit one on the way down. Just because we have not hit the ground, doesn't mean we have got away with it.

[raduandrei]

It's the best we could do [in a civilized manner], is basically what she's trying to say - and in all fairness i believe her. Will it be enough to stop the incoming disaster? Unlikely.
When "pistols will go to people's heads" - to use her metaphor - and millions will be displaced with some of the most developed regions on the planet in peril, people will look back and realize that "it's the best we can do" was not an acceptable answer.
Unless the renewable energy sector completely buries the fossil fuel one over the next decade, we're toast - quite literally.