The Paris Agreement (PA) on climate change which was achieved at the 21st conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in December 2015 was historic in several ways. Firstly, it, unlike its predecessor the Kyoto Protocol, which only required developed countries to take actions to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, …
What the rest of the world can do
Although President Trump has only been in office for less than a month, it is already becoming clear how he intends to carry out implementing his campaign pledges and who he is appointing in his cabinet. It is therefore possible to assess some likely actions and policies on climate change based on his campaign statements and also some of his …
Time to look inwards
In 2015, the world made two major global agreements, first in September in New York on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and then on climate change under the Paris Agreement in December . Both these global agreements have the same fifteen year timeline for their implementation, i.e. by 2030. However, in each developing country there are two very distinct and …
Paris deal execution planning starts
The Paris Agreement to tackle climate change which was achieved at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France last December has been ratified by well over fifty-five countries accounting for over 55% of global emissions (the two thresholds that need to be achieved for the agreement to go into force as international law). It thus went into force on …
The Paris Agreement and the challenges for climate change policy regime
The historic Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 entered into force yesterday and is now legally binding. The agreement represents an immense triumph for global diplomacy, since it was ratified by 92 countries in less than a year’s time, including some of the world’s biggest emitters such as China, India, and the US. The Agreement has been hailed “historic” as it …
1.5 to stay alive: UN’s warming goal feels the heat
The tougher temperature goal was a great victory for the vulnerable countries in terms of global diplomacy and advocacy. Now comes the hard part of implementation. One of the most hotly contested and far reaching outcomes of the Paris Agreement agreed last December was the inclusion of the long term warming limit of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Going into that …
The role of universities in capacity building under the Paris agreement
Although the challenge of climate change is universal, the ability to effectively mitigate climate change and cope with its effects is not. Many of the world’s developing countries have seriously limited capacities to plan and implement adequate climate policies and actions, and these countries “cannot mitigate or adapt to climate change without first having the capacity to do so.”1 Implementation …
Loss and Damage in INDCs
An investigation of Parties’ statements on L&D and prospects for its inclusion in a Paris Agreement
This paper discusses individual nations’ experiences with Loss and Damage (L&D), their plans to respond, and their calls for international support, as expressed in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). It also considers the developed-developing nation divide that persists in support for addressing loss and damage within the COP and the importance of including L&D in a Paris agreement. Example …
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change – What can we expect?
(This article originally published here) Earlier this month in Bonn, Germany, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held its last round of talks to prepare the text for the Climate Change Summit to be held in December in Paris, France to finalise a new Paris Agreement at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21). The draft of the …
