The past has shown that even binding worldwide agreements on carbon emission cuts such as the Kyoto Protocol 1997 can fail. Until now the line was drawn at only 2 degrees. Opponents might argue that the pact doesn’t have any mechanism to punish countries that don’t comply, yet it aims in the right direction to keep global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius between now and 2100.
Advertisement
This is huge: nearly every country in the world just signed on to the Paris Agreement on climate change-thanks to American leadership.
“[The current text] has no reference to levels of carbon peaks, no reference to fossil fuels in text, and the language of neutrality [assumes] we can suck massive amounts of CO2 in the future”, said Kevin Anderson, deputy director of the Tyndall Center for climate change research.
Establish binding commitments by all parties to make “nationally determined contributions” (N.D.C.s) with regard to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and pursue domestic measures aimed at achieving them.
The accord was sealed after two weeks of talks, conducted as Paris reeled from the November 13 terrorist attacks.
The third main component of the agreement, which continues to be the subject of heavy discussion, refers to participating countries’ own targets to decrease carbon and peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and to achieve a balance between sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of the 21 century.
Olai Uludong, 38, a climate change ambassador for the island nation of Palau who has been involved in negotiations for 12 years, is upbeat about the Paris deal. This will be accompanied by a reporting and transparency system. “If we have that cycle repeated every five years we’re going to reach the target”.
“If I stand here now, it gives me hope”, Uludong said. The senator said that his committee called on representatives from the agency to testify about the subject ahead of the Paris talks, but they declined.
The U.S. State Department will be able to deliver its first payment of $500 million to the United Nations Green Climate Fund, after lawmakers agreed on a federal fiscal deal that does not include language to block it. The deal came at a good time for Hollande, under pressure from a surging Front National, as France had regional elections Sunday. However, Western countries have been trying to exclude so-called “developing” countries such as the OPEC states, South Africa, China and India.
“Human rights language could have further targeted support to vulnerable groups or populations facing an undermining of rights to life, food, health, etc. [as] it would have increased the likelihood of assistance to vulnerable countries facing these problems as well”, says Matthew McKinnon, a UN Development Programme advisor to the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an advocacy coalition of 43 nations representing one billion climate-vulnerable people globally. Developed countries had previously pledged to provide $100 billion by 2020 in this regard. That omission was described as being nothing more than an offer to help pay insurance, by one policy expert at the COP21. The Obama administration says this requirement and the few others in the agreement said to be legally binding do not require approval by Congress.
Compromises have been made. The risks of carbon are high, but the opportunities to decarbonize are even greater.
The Paris Agreement has garnered mixed reactions from scientists, environmentalists and researchers from across the globe.
He spoke to EurActiv after the announcement of the draft deal at about noon today, which was backed later with no objections.
Advertisement
L’Appel de Paris is an inclusive initiative by the French Presidency of COP21 that invites all businesses, regions, cities and investors to join and vow to act on the outcomes of the Paris UN Climate Change Agreement.
