The US, China, India and other nations have hailed the COP21 agreement as the best chance to save our planet. Climate change campaigners, however, said that more could have been done. Many seem to favour the middle ground, and that is what the biggest problem may be.

The Paris Pact, as it has been termed, aims to curb global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Nearly 200 countries took part in tense talks in the French capital over two weeks, finally hammering out the first deal to commit all nations to cut emissions. The agreement - which is partly legally binding and partly voluntary - will come into being in 2020.

Of course, one has to understand that things cannot change in the blink of an eye. Petrol cars, diesel fuel... all this will eventually have to be phased out. What we are going to replace them with is anyone’s guess, but something will literally have to be invented. Until then, we will need a medium term option and a short term option to reduce emissions.

By 2020, we will all need to have our short term options in place. But should we not start now, from tomorrow? It is all well and good to have sporadic forays into sun harvesting projects.

But in order for this to truly work, the world must put profits aside and come together to save the planet. China, for example, is the world leader in solar energy generation.

If we truly want the world to work, then China must be given just compensation for sharing her knowledge with the world. The rest of the world, in turn, must share its knowledge where China, perhaps, lags behind.

And this is true for all of us. The world must come together on a world stage and immediately put together the actions plans, a SWOT analysis in a business proposal to see who can do what, and how much, in order for this job to get done as quickly and efficiently and thoroughly as possible.

It is clear, therefore, that the short term kicks off in 2020. That is four years from now. That is four years for the world to get its act together and face off against the biggest threat that humanity has faced. If we don’t, then the next generation or two will face a long drawn out fate. If climate change decimates crop production and causes mass migration and flooding, then we will literally be in the badlands. We will regress to fortified settlements and foraging for remnants of our petroleum fuelled addiction. So this is why the we need to start tomorrow. We need to take stock of everything. For Malta, for example, is bundling of card and cardboard to sell as cheap fuel to polluting powerstations in other countries really sustainable? Not at all. It is still ‘recycling’, but it is most definitely not in keeping with our dreams to save the world.

Malta’s physical contribution to this will be a drop in the ocean, but as we have punched above our weight in issues such as migration, we can do the same with climate change. We are a small island nation. Our arid climate and our risk of flooding or tsunami damage makes us one of the most risk people’s in the world. We now need to recognise that fact.