Chapter 11. Nations Unite in Global Agreement on Climate Change

11.1 Section Title

Chapter 11 HEADLINE: Nations Unite in Global Agreement on Climate Change

In the introduction to the chapter, we discussed the COP21 Paris agreement of December 2015, which committed countries to establish national goals for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This article outlines the major features of that agreement.

PARIS—More than 190 nations have agreed on a plan to limit climate change, ending a decades long search for an accord requiring the world’s economies to regulate the emission of gases that scientists say are causing the earth to warm. . . .

The deal calls for wealthy economies such as the U.S. and the European Union to shoulder more of the burden, including a pledge to channel at least $100 billion a year to poor countries to help them respond to climate change. The deal also requires action for the first time from developing nations, including large emitters such as China and India, to find ways to lower the trajectory of their emissions growth, even as they attempt to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. …

Governments have pledged to limit the world’s warming from the dawn of the industrial era to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and to “pursue efforts” to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. Island nations and other countries most vulnerable to climate change insisted on mentioning the 1.5 degree target, arguing that even 2 degrees of warming would herald disastrous effects for them. Whether the agreement will work fast enough to stave off the most damaging impacts of climate change is far from certain. The world has already warmed 0.9 degree Celsius since the late 19th century, according to the United Nations.

The accord’s weak spot is it allows nations to determine their own emissions reduction plans, immune from challenges by other governments. That was a compromise necessary to bring a host of governments on board, including the U.S., which would have been forced to ratify an internationally-agreed emissions reduction plan in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans and a few Democrats have staunchly opposed climate-change legislation. The first batch of those voluntary plans, which were submitted by more than 180 governments ahead of the Paris conference, won’t be nearly enough to meet the 2 degree target, according to the U.N.

A coalition of developed countries and the poorest nations most vulnerable to climate change insisted the deal require governments to revisit their emission-reduction plans every five years. The first review will occur in 2023. “Paris is not the end but the beginning of a path on which the global community has agreed,” said [German Environment Minister Barbara] Hendricks.

Source: Excerpted from Matthew Dalton and Gabriele Steinhauser, “Nations Unite in Global Agreement on Climate Change,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2015, online edition.

Question 1

Question

The COP21 Paris Agreement has received praise for its novel treatment of developing countries. What aspects of the agreement were politically popular for developing countries?

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Many advanced nations opposed climate agreements, because in the past developing countries have not been held accountable for their growing contributions to global warming. The Paris Agreement, however, requires that even developing countries find ways to lower their emissions growth trajectory. This was a popular provision among some developed countries who believed the low-income countries were being let off the hook under previous agreements.

Question 2

Question

The Headline mentions COP21’s weak spot: “it allows nations to determine their own emissions reduction plans.” How significant of a problem is this and why move forward with an agreement with such a blaring weakness?

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Without a benchmark or required emission target, countries are at liberty to reduce emission as much—or as little—as they choose. This means the agreement’s effectiveness is fully dependent on the willingness of signatory countries to voluntarily reduce their emissions. Thus, this provision of the agreement is essentially voluntary. The reason the agreement proceeded without specific reduction targets was that several key countries refused to sign any agreement with mandated reduction targets. In the case of the United States, this was done because it would require Senate approval of climate change legislation.

Question 3

Question

The COP21 Paris agreement focuses primarily on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. What other goals and objectives might be included in a global climate agreement?

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Answers will vary. Students might suggest that another way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to encourage (even subsidize) the use of renewable forms of energy. For example, sharing the technology required to produce solar energy with developing countries would be a low-cost way of encouraging the use of this zero-emission energy source.