A Western University associate professor will be among the 20,000 delegates helping hammer out a new climate change agreement in Paris.
Radoslav Dimitrov will attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) as a European Union delegate, representing the Republic of Bulgaria.
"Like most concerned citizens, I hope for a meaningful strong agreement. One that would actually entail actions at national and sub national levels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases," says Dimitrov. "We have seen remarkable progress in the past years in this regard where so many countries are now banding together and pledging very ambitious policy actions. Today, 86% of all global emissions are under some form of legislation for climate and energy policy. These are very interesting signs."
The COP21 begins Monday and runs until December 11. The major UN summit will see 195 countries attempt to work out a new international climate change agreement, which cuts greenhouse gas emissions.
Dimitrov, an associate professor in Western's political science department, is no stranger to the talks. He has participated in UN climate change negotiations since 2004. He also specializes in global environmental politics, international climate change negotiations, and UN diplomacy.
Dimitrov is optimistic that an agreement will be reached in Paris. However, he says we will have to wait and see how ambitious an agreement it will be.
"There are some very powerful economic reasons for becoming very ambitious in combating climate change," says Dimitrov. "This today sounds a lot more intuitive than it sounded ten years ago when everybody's discussion was 'climate change is very expensive to take care of and it's going to damage our economic growth.' The European Union managed to prove to everybody the exact opposite is true. There are enormous economic opportunities in embracing renewable energy and energy efficiencies. Therefore my message will be that these need to be emphasized continuously."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will also be in attendance, has promised to formulate a national climate change strategy within 90 days of the conference. Other world leaders set to attend include U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
The conference, being held at Le Bourget Airport, comes to Paris just two weeks after a terrorist attack in the city left 130 people dead. France has already promised 2,800 police and soldiers will be guarding the site.