COP 21 and the Paris Agreement: A Force Awakened

University of New South Wales Law Journal , 2016

The contribution analyses the Paris Agreement, which was adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties (‘COP21’) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (‘UNFCCC’). The focus is on the place of the Paris Agreement in the overall international climate change regime established under the UNFCCC. We first discuss the processes that led to the adoption of the Agreement, with particular attention to discussions about the relationship between the Agreement, the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. We then examine the purpose of the Agreement, including the long- term temperature goal, and review each of the major substantive parts of the treaty. Our analysis concludes with general reflections on the implications of the Agreement for the future of international climate change action under the auspices of the UNFCCC.

Policy Quarterly, 2016

When French foreign minister Laurent Fabius brought down the gavel on the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015, the international community reached a goal that had eluded it for six years: an updated and universal climate change agreement. It owed much to France’s diplomacy over the preceding 12 months, together with efficient, firm and innovative handling of the conference itself. Fundamental to the success of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) was the commitment at all levels from President Hollande down to engage with the broadest range of parties and non-state actors. The fruits of France’s engagement were nowhere more apparent than in the small island states’ comment in the final plenary that this was the first time they felt they had been listened to at a COP.

The Paris Climate Change Conference was tasked to set the world on a path to address the greatest challenge to ever face humankind, by adopting a new climate agreement. The outlook for the conference was rather bleak. The laborious and increasingly frequent meetings of the body entrusted to draft the text of the Paris Agreement, the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), had made limited progress. These negotiations had eloquently demonstrated the futility of technical negotiations, without political consensus on the core elements and features of the new agreement. Yet, to the surprise of many, the Paris Conference concluded on 12 December 2015, with the adoption of a new climate treaty. This article reflects on the Paris Conference and on its outcome. First, it collocates the conference in the history of the climate regime. Then, it explains what Parties were expected to deliver. Finally, it assesses the outcome of the conference against these expectations. The article concludes with a reflection on where the climate regime is likely to head next, and where the Paris Agreement leaves Parties in their efforts to tackle climate change.

Swarthmore International Relations Journal, 2019

The 2015 UN climate negotiations in Paris resulted in an inclusive, binding treaty that succeeds the Kyoto Protocol. In contrast to the failure at Copenhagen in 2009, the Paris negotiations are therefore seen as a major diplomatic success that has regenerated faith in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as a forum for dynamic multi- lateralism. The Paris Agreement provides a robust framework for ratcheting up efforts to combat global warming. However, the Agreement’s value will remain unclear for some time. The historical path to the Paris accord is out- lined, and a preliminary assessment is offered of its key elements and outcomes.

A high-level intergovernmental summit on tackling anthropogenic climate change was held in Paris under the auspices of the United Nations last December. The purpose of the much-anticipated event was to work out a practical plan to curb future greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to provide assistance for countries to adapt to existing climatic changes. In many respects, the outcome of the Paris summit is a typical case of high expectations colliding headfirst with political reality. Although the contents of the final deal are somewhat abstract and difficult to enforce, the adoption of the text itself demonstrates a reinvigorated global commitment to dealing with the pressing issue of global warming. This study aims to explore the context and contents of the recent agreement, and to evaluate its potential consequences.

Journal of International Development, 2016

The vicious effects of climate change are sweeping the planet along with the creation of a level of emissions that would lock in a future of rising sea levels, intense droughts and food shortages, more destructive storms and floods and other catastrophic effects. With a best hope to face the bad effects of climate change on world security and to drive the world on a low-carbon pathway, a multinational effort of the world leaders is on the process to hammer out a new global pact for reducing the emissions. But the Paris Climate Summit has not served for this purpose because of absence of actionable commitments, discord on sharing of remaining carbon space, disagreement over finance, lack of clarity and sidelining the least developed and vulnerable countries. Delivery on commitments made in Paris, therefore, calls for new systems of governance, new infrastructures, user practices, institutions, policies and cultural meanings.

Abstract: This paper pre­sents a crit­i­cal analy­sis of the Paris Agree­ment on Cli­mate Change, agreed upon by more than 180 coun­tries at the Twenty-First Con­fer­ence of Par­ties (COP 21) of the United Na­tions Frame­work Con­ven­tion on Cli­mate Change (UN­FCCC). The ar­ti­cle traces the de­vel­op­ment of the major is­sues and points of dis­agree­ment in cli­mate ne­go­ti­a­tions from the Copen­hagen sum­mit of 2009 to COP 21 at Paris. The paper ar­gues that the out­comes of COP 21 fell con­spic­u­ously short of the world’s re­quire­ments in terms of cli­mate sci­ence and eq­uity among coun­tries. The paper ar­gues for car­bon bud­gets and, in that con­text, fur­ther ar­gues that the Paris Con­fer­ence has set goals that are at odds with the fea­si­bil­ity of such goals as in­di­cated in the Fifth As­sess­ment Re­port (AR5) of the In­ter­gov­ern­men­tal Panel on Cli­mate Change (IPCC). In gen­eral, the Paris Agree­ment per­pet­u­ates the low lev­els of cli­mate ac­tion thus far un­der­taken by the de­vel­oped na­tions while of­fer­ing lit­tle con­crete as­sis­tance to the less-de­vel­oped na­tions. The over­all re­sult of the agree­ment is likely to be, for the peo­ple of the less-de­vel­oped na­tions, greater dan­ger for those vul­ner­a­ble to the im­pact of cli­mate change and greater dif­fi­culty in guar­an­tee­ing the en­ergy basis of their fu­ture de­vel­op­ment. http://www.ras.org.in/the_paris_agreement_on_climate_change

On the evening of 12 December 2015, Laurent Fabius, the then French Foreign Minister, and President of the 21st session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), closed the climate conference proceedings by stating, “With a small hammer you can achieve great things.” By bringing down his legendary green hammer, Fabius signalled that all of the UNFCCC’s 195 parties had accepted the new climate agreement. This is the analysis of the Paris Agreement from the perspective of two international networks, ACT Alliance and Bread for the World

2018

The world today is seen as a global village, rapidly evolving in all spheres including its climate and for this reason, there have been several intellectual gatherings on how best to tackle the adverse changes to the climate. Taking into cognizance that climate change is not something happening in some distant future but a phenomenon occurring in the present; the landmark diplomatic achievement known as the Paris Agreement was initiated. This paper seeks to unravel in holistic terms the Paris Accord by first giving an oversight of the agreement itself then juxtaposing the challenges that continuously stifle its actualization with the opportunities that abound if the goals of this Accord are realized.