The Paris Agreement is No Panacea

Context: Paris Agreement is deemed as the panacea for all environmental ills, while is being repudiated off the principles of ‘Common But Differentiated Responsibilities’ (CBDR) and ‘the polluter must pay’.

Global Climate Initiatives:

• Stockholm Conference (1972): Mounting scienti?c evidence about the role of anthropogenic emissions in global warming led to political initiatives to harmonise development and environment.
• Rio Conference (1992): adopted the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).
  • CBDR: The ‘‘luxury emissions” of the developed countries, were to be reduced mandatorily, and the survival emissions of the developed countries, which were allowed to increase.
  • Huge financial package was approved to develop environment­friendly technologies in developing countries.
• Conference of the Parties (1995): was held in Berlin and developed countries (backed off from their prior commitments) had imposed mandatory cuts on developing countries.
• Kyoto Protocol enshrined the Rio principles: It fixed emission targets for developed countries and a complex set of provisions was included to satisfy their interests.
  • But it was never ratified by the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. withdrew its support in 2001.
• Copenhagen Accord (2009): by the U.S. and China reflects the end of the Kyoto Protocol and the abandonment of Rio principles and led to voluntary reduction all greenhouse gas emission.
• Paris Agreement: it was virtually born in Copenhagen, and adopted later in 2015.

Merits of the Paris Agreement:

• Voluntary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions: by all countries (rich, poor, developed, and developing)
• Regular reporting on emissions and implementation efforts: through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) mechanism.

Demerits of Paris Agreement:

• Moved away from CBDR: by emphasising on voluntary contributions, the Paris Agreement repudiates the principles of CBDR and ‘the polluter must pay’ principle.
• Absence of penalties: for falling short of emission targets:
• Inadequate emission target: A temperature rise, even of 1.5°C, may result in the death of 70%-90% of coral reefs across the world. - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Conclusion: Global community must reject nationalism and parochialism and adopts collaborative responses to the climate change crisis.