The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2015 is variously referred to as COP 21 and CMP 11. It will take place from Nov 30 to Dec 11 at Le Bourget – a suburban commune in Paris, France. Here are five things about the 2015 Climate Conference everyone needs to know and might be embarrassed to ask:

1. The Paris Climate Conference of 2015 is the 21st annual session of the Conference of Parties to the 1992 UNFCCC – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is also the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The 2015 Climate Conference aims to achieve a universal and legally binding agreement on climate change from all the countries on the globe. According to the organisers, the COP 21, “for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aims to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.”

2. Governments at the 2015 Climate Conference are expected to produce a continued agreement to tackle climate change.

The current greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol ran out in 2020. The countries will be expected to enter into agreement for the decade after 2020 and potentially beyond.

3. The COP21 is the largest conference the French government has ever organised, according to CNN.

The UNFCCC has 196 member parties – a near universal number, while 192 parties of the UNFCCC have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. French Prime Minister Francois Hollande will welcome major world leaders such as US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

4. The crucial objective behind setting targets beyond 2020 is keeping global average temperature rise under 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists have warned that a continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions will breach this safety threshold and lead to catastrophic changes in the global environment. Current emission trajectories are dangerously posed for a global temperature rise above 5 degrees.

5. The 2015 Paris Climate Conference may be expected to see contentions regarding financing and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of developing countries.

The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases – China, the US and EU have already committed to emission reduction targets for the decade after 2020. According to The Guardian, poorer countries want the rich and developed world to provide them with financial help required to make clean technology investments in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to mitigate the likely damage of climate change on their infrastrcuture.

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