At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC), representatives from 196 countries met in Le Bourget, France, and negotiated the language of the agreement. The agreement was adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which sets legally binding emission reduction targets (as well as sanctions for non-compliance) only for developed countries, the Paris Agreement requires all countries – rich, poor, developed and developed – to do their part and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, greater flexibility is built into the Paris Agreement: it does not include language in the commitments that countries should make, countries can voluntarily set their emission targets (NDCs) and countries are not penalized if they do not meet the proposed targets. They must participate in a „global stocktaking“ to measure collective efforts to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. In the meantime, developed countries must also estimate the amount of financial assistance they will provide to developing countries to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to the effects of 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 „able to do so“ – to continue to provide funds to help developing countries mitigate 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 Compact also created the Green Climate Fund to help mobilize transformative financing with targeted public funds. The Paris Agreement set 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 general scientific opinion is that any increase in global temperatures of more than 2 degrees Celsius would be catastrophic for the Earth – leading to severe natural disasters, a melted Arctic and possible mass extinctions.
When the entire planet is in danger, it takes the whole world to fight climate change. The ultimate goal of the agreement is to limit the increase in global warming this century to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Although the difference of 0.5 degrees may not seem like much, it would significantly affect low-lying nations and coral reefs. Although the Kyoto Protocol distinguishes between Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries, this division is unclear in the Paris Agreement, as all parties are required to submit emission reduction plans. Here`s what he wants to do: Here`s a look at what the Paris Agreement does, how it works, and why it`s so important to our future. Concrete results of the increased focus on adaptation financing in Paris include the announcement by G7 countries to provide $420 million for climate risk insurance and the launch of an early warning and climate risk systems (CREWS) initiative. [51] In 2016, the Obama administration awarded a $500 million grant to the Green Climate Fund as „the first part of a $3 billion commitment made at the Paris climate negotiations.“ [52] [53] [54] To date, the Green Climate Fund has received more than $10 billion in pledges. In particular, commitments come from industrialized countries such as France, the United States and Japan, but also from developing countries such as Mexico, Indonesia and Vietnam. [33] At the 2015 Paris conference, where the agreement was negotiated, developed countries reaffirmed their commitment to mobilize $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020 and agreed to continue to mobilize $100 billion in financing per year until 2025. [48] The commitment refers to the existing plan to provide developing countries with $100 billion per year for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. [49] There are several ways to include flexibility mechanisms in the Enhanced Transparency Framework.
The scope, level of detail or frequency of reporting can be adjusted and ranked according to a country`s capacity. The requirement for in-country technical inspections could be waived for some less developed States or small island developing States. Capacity assessment opportunities include the financial and human resources of a country required for the review of NDCs. [58] Although the NDC is not legally binding on each Party, Parties are required by law to track their progress through technical expert reviews to assess NDC achievements and identify ways to strengthen their ambitions. [57] Article 13 of the Paris Agreement sets out an „enhanced transparency policy and support framework“ that sets out harmonised monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) requirements. .