Earth Day and the Paris Agreement constitute cogent and compelling evidence that restoring our Earth requires global commitment.
by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal
“The Earth is what we all have in common.” —Wendell Berry
Unbeknownst to many of us Earth Day came by and went on 22nd April this year, unobtrusively and amidst continuing anguish caused by COVID-19. The theme of this year’s Earth Day was “Restore Our Earth”. Earth Day started in 1970 with the modern environment movement – the first international recognition of the compelling need and our obligation to protect the environment, and continues as an annual event designed intended to to encourage and demonstrate action and support for environmental protection.
One cannot help but ascribe the impetus that led to Earth Day to Rachel Carson’s seminal book Silent Spring published in 1962, which raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the integral nexus between pollution and public health.
Another fact that many may not be aware of is that the Paris Agreement which resulted from the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where 195 States were parties to the discussions in Paris on the COP 21 Agreement. This Agreement was accepted in general by consensus, was deposited at the United Nations in New York and opened for one year for signature on 22 April 2016—Mother Earth Day. It is interesting that that the United Nations calls 22nd April International Mother Earth Day while the United States calls it Earth Day.
The Agreement entered into force after 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions deposited their instruments of ratification. This happened on October 5, 2016, and the agreement went into force 30 days later on November 4, 2016. The overall aim of the Agreement is to maintain a global temperature rise in the 21st century to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to strive to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the lower level recognized as a buffer against worst case scenario impacts of climate change. Another important goal of the Agreement is to strengthen the capacity of States to effectively address and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Article 2 of the Agreement stipulates that the Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, including by: holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change; increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production; and making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development. Article 2.2. is explicit in stating that the Agreement will be implemented to reflect equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances .
The Agreement also recognizes the need to put in place appropriate financial tools in order to achieve the aforementioned ambitious goals with a view to enabling developing states to face the challenges of mitigating climate change at their own pace and in accordance with their own national objectives.
There was considerable hope that the agreement would truly promote sustainable development. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: “We have entered a new era of global cooperation on one of the most complex issues ever to confront humanity. For the first time, every country in the world has pledged to curb emissions, strengthen resilience and join in common cause to take common climate action. This is a resounding success for multilateralism.”
The critical areas covered by the COP 21 Agreement are: mitigation – reducing emissions fast enough to achieve the temperature goal; a transparency system and global stock-take – accounting for climate action; adaptation – strengthening ability of countries to deal with climate impacts; loss and damage – strengthening ability to recover from climate impacts; and support – including finance, for nations to build clean, resilient futures The Agreement espouses a long term direction that would enable States to reach a peak in their emissions as soon as possible and continue to submit national climate action plans that detail their future objectives to address climate change.
A UNFCCC Secretariat statement claimed that, in the spirit of the Agreement, 188 countries had undertaken to contribute climate action plans in accordance with the new agreement, which is calculated to dramatically slow the pace of global greenhouse gas emissions. The basic philosophy of the Agreement is that future national plans will be no less ambitious than existing ones, which means these 188 climate action plans provide a firm floor and foundation for higher ambition. It has also introduced nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – updated plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – once every five years, which will regularly and consistently improve their strategy towards achieving their overall goals in the long-term.
The Agreement also provides for action to be taken even before 2020 where States are required to continue to engage in a process on mitigation opportunities and will put added focus on adaptation opportunities. Furthermore, since reaching the ambitious target of 1.5% below industrial levels would mean keeping at least 75% of the current flow of fossil fuels on the ground, and using renewable energy instead, States will raise climate finance up to $ 100 billion by 2020 that would assist developing countries to develop such energy resources. States will, in this regard, work towards defining a clear roadmap on ratcheting up climate finance to USD 100 billion by 2020 while also before 2025 setting a new goal on the provision of finance from the USD 100 billion floor. A roadmap in this regard will be developed by States. There will also be put in place a robust transparency and accounting system that would allow for special circumstances and respective capabilities of States to be recognized and taken as part of the equation. Support and cooperation are the main themes of this philosophy. The Agreement also strengthens international cooperation on climate-safe technologies and building capacity in the developing world to address climate change.
All States are required to submit adaptation communications, in which they may detail their adaptation priorities, support needs and plans. There is also provision for developing countries to receive increased support for adaptation actions, for which there will be an assessment of the adequacy of this support that will be given. As already mentioned, the Agreement has incorporated a robust transparency framework for both action and support. The framework will provide clarity on countries’ mitigation and adaptation actions, as well as the provision of support. At the same time, it recognizes that Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States have special circumstances.
According to the UNFCCC Secretariat, the agreement includes a global stocktake starting in 2023 to assess the collective progress towards the goals of the agreement. The stocktake will be done every five years and the agreement includes a compliance mechanism, overseen by a committee of experts that operates in a non-punitive way. From a technical standpoint, COP 21 addressed a number of issues which go to say that there is now a clear and transparent accounting method for carry-over credits for the second commitment period, creating a clear set of rules; and the first round of international assessment and review process (IAR) that was launched in 2014 was successfully completed. A number of technical and implementation issues related to the existing arrangements on technology, adaptation, action for climate empowerment and capacity building were also successfully concluded.
Earth Day and the Paris Agreement constitute cogent and compelling evidence that restoring our Earth requires global commitment.
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