France has launched a push for publicity in advance of December’s climate talks at the UN Climate Change Conference [COP21] that is taking place in Paris from 30 November to 11 December. France has launched a diplomatic drive to push the international community towards reaching a global climate deal, and the country’s ambassadors in embassies and consulates across the world have been instructed in how to communicate the messages to the governments they deal with.
French ambassadors across the world have been holding public events, private meetings, talks with their diplomatic counterparts, businesses, NGOs and, as Climate Action notes, “even schoolchildren.”
It’s not clear whether the “even with schoolchildren” is a French emphasis, or something Climate Action dreamed up. Either way, as supporters of environmental education in schools, it’s something we applaud. The idea of COP21 is to secure an international deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions and prevent an average global temperature increase of 2°C above pre-industrial times, although not everyone thinks that this is now possible.