Paris Deal Frames Climate Change in ‘Lens of Equity’

The draft agreement handed to delegates at the Paris conference repeats the alarmist claims that characterised previous reports, suggesting that the world is experiencing unprecedented rises in the atmospheric temperature, rising sea levels, melting ice caps and more extreme climate events. It aims to accelerate a move away from fossil fuels to mitigate global warming and to help vulnerable countries adapt to the effects of climate change, and reflects a clear recognition of the urgency of the task.

All countries have agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and, given the grave risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees.

Amid apprehensions in certain quarters over the fate of India in the wake of Paris climate agreement, the government on Wednesday said the country has been able to secure its interests and the agreement met its broad expectations. The conference was deemed to be crucial as the resultant agreement would be binding on all the countries. In a book I coauthored on the effectiveness of multilateral environmental regimes, we argued that effective governance required attention to the cooperative environment among nations, building national concern among elites and the mass public, and building state administrative capacity for enforcing global commitments.

Noting that developed countries have caused more pollution as they spearheaded the industrial revolution, the agreement directed them to continue to reduce emissions in absolute terms.

“THE test of a first-rate intelligence”, F. Scott Fitzgerald, a sometime Parisian, once wrote, “is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time”. It means we require credible plans to decarbonise our economies and protect the most vulnerable from the devastating impacts of climate change. The government set a “pragmatic” target of reducing its 2030 emissions by 26 percent from the 2013 levels based on the trajectory of its current policy measures. In the words of the IPC: “The new climate change regime has yet to drive Ankara to reconsider its unambitious mitigation targets, new coal-driven energy future, and high carbon economic preferences…” Developing countries insist on increased financing to pay for cleaner energy and to pay for adaptation. And, outside the main negotiations, Paris saw a commitment from rich countries and individuals to undertake a lot more research into new sources of clean energy.

WMU welcomes the historic agreement to combat climate change that was agreed to in Paris on 12 December. However, I don’t recall ever hearing so much focus on the youth and future generations at the conference – especially from the world leaders. Instead, it allows each nation to establish a comfortable reduction target and outline a strategy of how they plan to get there.

Beyond the Paris climate deal, what are the critical steps that we need to take? We are here to support them. This should be taken as another indicator of the loopholes built into the agreement.

The Paris Agreement represents a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches to climate governance. The Paris agreement drew on impressive reserves of diplomatic savoir faire and global solidarity.

Governments set targets, but it is local government and the private sector that carry them out on the ground. Such progress depends on harnessing and coordinating concurrent pressures from the scientific community and civil society on the behavior of states and firms, while encouraging firms to invest more heavily in energy conservation, renewable energy, and green technologies.

It has been hailed as “the end of the fossil fuel era” by some, while others have received it with more caution.