The authors of the agreement have incorporated a timetable for withdrawal that President Trump must follow – to prevent it from irreparably harming our climate. President Obama was able to formally include the United States in the international agreement through executive action, as he did not impose any new legal obligations on the country. The United States already has a number of instruments in the books that have already been passed by Congress to reduce carbon pollution. The country formally acceded to the agreement in September 2016 after submitting its proposal for participation. The Paris Agreement could only enter into force after at least 55 countries representing at least 55% of global emissions had formally acceded to it. This happened on October 5, 2016 and the agreement entered into force 30 days later, on November 4, 2016. It is rare that there is consensus among almost all nations on a single issue. But with the Paris Agreement, world leaders agreed that climate change is driven by human behavior, that it poses a threat to the environment and all of humanity, and that global action is needed to stop it. It also created a clear framework for all countries to make emission reduction commitments and strengthen these measures over time. Here are some key reasons why the deal is so important: The agreement sets an ambitious goal of keeping global warming ”well below 2°C” and making efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this long-term goal, countries must achieve their greenhouse gas emissions ”as soon as possible” and then make reductions to achieve a balance between ghg emissions and removals by sinks in the second half of this century. In other words, the agreement states that from 2050, countries must have net-zero emissions as soon as possible and rely on carbon sinks (such as forests) to offset the emissions they cause. Professor John Shepherd of the National Centre for Oceanography at the University of Southampton says the deal contains welcome aspirations, but few people know how difficult it will be to achieve the goals.
It will also enable the parties to progressively strengthen their contributions to the fight against climate change in order to achieve the long-term objectives of the agreement. INDCs become NDCs – Nationally Determined Contributions – once a country formally accedes to the agreement. There are no specific requirements on how countries should reduce their emissions or to what extent, but there have been political expectations regarding the nature and severity of the targets set by different countries. As a result, national plans vary considerably in scope and ambition, largely reflecting each country`s capacities, level of development and contribution to emissions over time. China, for example, has pledged to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2030 at the latest and to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. India has set a target of reducing emissions intensity by 33-35% from 2005 levels by 2030 and producing 40% of its electricity from non-fossil sources. The Paris Agreement is expected to enter into force in 2020 (replacing the Kyoto Protocol). I would like to highlight seven key points that you may not be aware of and that could contribute to a better understanding of the agreement: Since Trump`s announcement, US envoys have continued to participate in UN climate negotiations as prescribed to consolidate the details of the agreement.
Meanwhile, thousands of leaders across the country have stepped in to fill the void created by the lack of federal climate leadership, reflecting the will of the vast majority of Americans who support the Paris Agreement. There has been a wave of participation among city and state officials, business leaders, universities, and individuals in initiatives such as America`s Pledge, the U.S. Climate Alliance, We Are Still In, and the American Cities Climate Challenge. Complementary and sometimes overlapping movements aim to deepen and accelerate efforts to combat climate change at local, regional and national levels. Each of these efforts is focused on the U.S. working toward the goals of the Paris Agreement, despite Trump`s attempts to steer the country in the opposite direction. These transparency and accountability provisions are similar to those in other international agreements. While the system does not involve financial sanctions, the requirements are aimed at easily tracking each nation`s progress and fostering a sense of global peer pressure, discouraging any hesitation between countries that might consider this.
Financing is essential to support emerging economies and support the transition to carbon-free economies. The agreement stipulates that from 2020, $100 billion in public and private funds will have to be raised each year to finance projects that will allow countries to adapt to the effects of climate change (sea level rise, droughts, etc.) or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These funds should be gradually increased and some developing countries will also be able to become donors on a voluntary basis to help the poorest countries. For the first time in history, the agreement brings all the nations of the world together in a single agreement to fight climate change. Recognizing that many developing countries and small island states that have contributed the least to climate change could suffer the most from its consequences, the Paris Agreement includes a plan for developed countries – and others that are ”capable of doing so” – to continue to provide financial resources to help developing countries mitigate climate change and increase their resilience to climate change. The agreement builds on financial commitments from the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, which aimed to increase public and private climate finance for developing countries to $100 billion a year by 2020. (To put this in perspective, global military spending in 2017 alone amounted to about $1.7 trillion, more than a third of which came from the United States.) The Copenhagen Pact also created the Green Climate Fund to support the mobilisation of transformation finance with targeted public funds. The Paris Agreement established hope that the world would set a higher annual target by 2025 to build on the $100 billion target for 2020 and put in place mechanisms to achieve that scale.
The agreement contains commitments from all countries to reduce their emissions and work together to adapt to the effects of climate change and calls on countries to strengthen their commitments over time. The agreement provides a way for developed countries to assist developing countries in their mitigation and adaptation efforts, while providing a framework for transparent monitoring and reporting on countries` climate goals. The Paris Agreement provides a sustainable framework that guides global efforts for decades to come. The aim is to increase countries` climate ambitions over time. To this end, the agreement provides for two review processes, each to be carried out in a five-year cycle. Under the agreement, countries must implement national adaptation planning processes and activities, including vulnerability assessment and resilience building. Small island states, which are particularly vulnerable to climate change, have lobbied to include the responsibility of developed countries for loss and damage suffered as a result of the consequences of climate change. The agreement contained a reference to this issue, but did not establish any legal liability or right to compensation. The Paris Agreement is the first universal and legally binding global climate agreement adopted at the Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21) in December 2015. The agreement recognises the role of non-party stakeholders in the fight against climate change, including cities, other sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector and others.
Developed countries provide financial resources to assist developing countries in taking mitigation and adaptation measures. Other ”richer developing countries” are called upon to provide resources, but on a voluntary basis. The Paris decision sets a minimum limit of $100 billion per year to be mobilized each year after 2025. Nevertheless, the agreement does not contain any new or concrete binding figures. The agreement requires rich countries to meet a funding commitment of $100 billion per year beyond 2020 and use that number as a ”lower limit” for additional support agreed until 2025. .