[JURIST]US President Barack Obama [official website] on Saturday applauded [press release] the new climate change agreement reached Friday at the Paris summit. The agreement was reached during the twenty-first annual conference of parties, known as COP21 [official website]. He stated that the agreement could be a turning point for the world. The summit achieved the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, aiming for only a 1.5 degree temperature rise. The president praised all the global leaders who participated and stated that even though the agreement is relatively narrow, having 200 nations agree on something so fundamental is huge progress for the world.

According to many experts, climate change [JURIST backgrounder] as a result of global greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most pressing and controversial environmental issues facing the international community today. In July Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced an agreement [text] to address climate change [JURIST report]. Both countries pledged to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the use of wind and solar power sources to 20 percent of each nation’s electricity production by 2030. Brazil also pledged to help reduce the deforestation problem by restoring nearly 30 million acres of Amazon rain forest. China also announced its climate change goals [press release] in July, including reducing its adjusted carbon monoxide output by 60 percent.