Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said, “The historic COP21 deal (referring to official name of the Paris conference, i.e. the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N.F.C.C.C.) supports a better-nourished, stable, secure future for the United States and every nation”.
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So the president, who says confronting climate change is a priority, resisted the efforts of European nations to adopt a treaty that would have had some muscle.
He noted that the Paris Agreement complements the 2030 Development Agenda and taken together, both the outcomes mark a new beginning for worldwide cooperation to protect the health of the planet and ensure a life of dignity to all people.
What ultimately will have the most affect is when private investors get involved. Critics state that the lack of real accountability will likely lead to widespread reneging, alluding to the Kyoto Protocol, which was not ratified by the U.S. Senate specifically because of the lack of enforceability.
Last week, Daniele Violetti, chief of staff of the United Nations climate change body praised the role of inter-faith organizations.
However, there is no specific policy in the agreement for the prime demands of lessening carbon emission and arranging funds for the countries struggling with adverse impacts of climate change.
However, climate researcher and consultant for the LDCs Salimul Haque termed the Paris agreement a successful one, “The world for the first time has a target of bringing down the global temperature by 2 degrees Celsius and of keeping it within 1.5 degrees Celsius”.
Firstly, as a long-term goal, all countries will try to keep the rise in global temperature to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, the level that is likely to eliminate the worst effects of climate change, and to pursue efforts to limit the increase in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement calls for a “transparency framework” to achieve uniformity among reporting countries.
From an investment standpoint, that would seem to make the alternative energy sector appealing, yet the need for more renewable energy hasn’t always translated into profits or stock returns.
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“The draft Paris agreement continues to be weak and un-ambitious as it does not include any meaningful targets for developed countries to reduce their emissions”, said Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, in a statement. Starting in 2023, a “global stocktake” mandates countries to report in five-year intervals on how their actual emissions reductions compare with their submitted plan. It calls for developed countries to provide more than $100 billion a year to aid poor countries to meet the goals. The Paris agreement does not force governments to change and change fast. It is responsible for 15 percent of emissions. The Paris agreement drew on impressive reserves of diplomatic savoir faire and global solidarity. It’s not legally binding. Another win for Beijing is that, unlike at the chaotic climate summit six years ago in Copenhagen, China wasn’t seen as blocking the talks in Paris. From 2016 onward, implementation will be most effective through national laws: the country commitments put forward in Paris will be more credible – and durable beyond the next set of national elections – if they are backed up by national legislation.
