The Paris Climate Agreement

Introduction
The Paris Agreement is a landmark international accord that was adopted by nearly every nation
in 2015 to address climate change and its negative impacts. The agreement aims to substantially
reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase in this century to
2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels while pursuing the means to limit the increase to 1.5
degrees. The agreement includes commitments from all major emitting countries to cut their
climate pollution and to strengthen those commitments over time. The pact provides a pathway
for developed nations to assist developing nations in their climate mitigation and adaptation
efforts, and it creates a framework for the transparent monitoring, reporting, and ratcheting up of
countries’ individual and collective climate goals.

The Paris Climate Agreement at a glance

1
Development
At COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark
agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments
needed for a sustainable low carbon future. The Paris Agreement builds upon
the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake
ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to
assist developing countries to do so. The Paris Agreement opened for signature on 22 April 2016
– Earth Day – at UN Headquarters in New York. It entered into force on 4 November 2016, 30
days after the so-called “double threshold” (ratification by 55 countries that account for at least
55% of global emissions) had been met. Since then, more countries have ratified and continue to
ratify the Agreement, reaching a total of 125 Parties in early 2017. The current number of
ratifications can be found here. To make the Paris Agreement fully operational, a work program
was launched in Paris to develop modalities, procedures, and guidelines on a broad array of
issues. Since 2016, Parties work together in the subsidiary bodies (APA, SBSTA, and SBI) and
various constituted bodies. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to
the Paris Agreement (CMA) met for the first time in conjunction with COP 22 in Marrakesh (in
November 2016) and adopted its first two decisions. The work program was expected to be
completed by 2018.

Countries involved in the Paris Climate Agreement

The EU and 193 states, totaling over 98% of anthropogenic emissions, have ratified or acceded
to the Agreement. The only countries which have not ratified are some greenhouse gas emitters
in the Middle East: Iran with 2% of the world total being the largest. Eritrea, Libya, and Yemen
have also not ratified the agreement. Iraq is the latest country to ratify the agreement, on 1
November 2021. Article 28 enables parties to withdraw from the Agreement after sending a
withdrawal notification to the depositary. Notice can be given no earlier than three years after the
Agreement goes into force for the country. Withdrawal is effective one year after the depositary
is notified.

2
United States Withdrawal and Readmittance
On 4 August 2017, the Trump administration delivered an official notice to the United Nations
that the United States, the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, intended to
withdraw from the Paris Agreement as soon as it was eligible to do so. The notice of withdrawal
could not be submitted until the Agreement was in force for three years in the US, on 4
November 2019. The U.S. government deposited the notification with the Secretary General of
the United Nations and officially withdrew one year later on 4 November 2020. President Joe
Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office, 20 January 2021, to re-admit the
United States into the Paris Agreement. Following the 30 days set by Article 21.3, the U.S. was
readmitted to the Agreement.

Objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement

The main objective of the Paris Agreement is to fight against climate change to limit the increase
in world temperature to 2 °C, from the pre-industrial era, before the end of the century. To
achieve this goal, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced, including those that come from
fossil fuels, until their total eradication. The premise of “Zero fossil fuels”, is intended to replace
these with renewable, alternative, or clean energy.

3
The Paris Agreement also proposes measures to combat climate change such as mitigation,
adaptation, and resilience, but what do these words mean?

Mitigation. It is a term that means to attenuate or soften a negative thing, such as an illness or
a headache. In the case of global warming, mitigation refers to the reduction of emissions of
greenhouse gases (GHG) or fossil fuels until their total eradication. They also include the
improvement of the sumps to increase the absorption capacity of said gases. Likewise, programs
such as carbon taxes and incentives for voluntary GHG reduction and clean energy substitution
are considered.

Adaptation. It refers to the actions that must be carried out to prevent changes that can
produce undesired effects. In the case of global warming, adaptation refers to initiatives and
measures that reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems to climate change.
Countries and communities must implement preventive measures and practices to avoid probable
harm. Short and long-term measures must be contemplated, through environmental management,
planning, and disaster management.

Resilience. It is the capacity of adaptation of a living being to face a disturbing agent or an

adverse state or situation. In the case of global warming and climate change, resilience refers to
the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbances, without significantly altering its structural

4
and functional characteristics, and can return to its original state after the disturbance factor has
ceased. The Paris Agreement places special emphasis on increasing the capacity for adaptation,
strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change.

Loss and damage

The Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of averting, minimizing, and addressing loss and
damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events
and slow onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and
damage. Parties are to enhance understanding, action, and support, including through the
Warsaw International Mechanism, on a cooperative and facilitative basis concerning loss and
damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

Transparency
Article 13 of the Paris Agreement articulates an "enhanced transparency framework for action
and support" that establishes harmonized monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV)
requirements. Both developed and developing nations must report every two years on their
mitigation efforts, and all parties will be subject to technical and peer review. While the
enhanced transparency framework is universal, the framework is meant to provide "built-in
flexibility" to distinguish between developed and developing countries capacities.
The Paris Agreement has provisions for an enhanced framework for capacity building,
recognizes the varying circumstances of countries, and notes that the technical expert review for
each country considers that country's specific capacity for reporting. Parties to the Agreement
send their first Biennial Transparency Report (BTR), and greenhouse gas inventory figures to the
UNFCCC by 2024 and every two years after that. Developed countries submit their first BTR in
2022 and inventories annually from that year.
Flexibility can be incorporated into the enhanced transparency framework via the scope, level of
detail, or frequency of reporting, tiered based on a country's capacity. The requirement for in-
country technical reviews could be lifted for some less developed or small island developing
countries. Ways to assess capacity include financial and human resources in a country necessary
for NDC review.

Implementation and effectiveness

The Paris Agreement is implemented via national policy. Implementation requires fossil fuel
burning to be cut back and the share of sustainable energy to grow rapidly. Emissions are being
reduced rapidly in the electricity sector, but not in the building, transport, and heating sectors.
Some industries are difficult to decarbonize, and for those carbon dioxide removal may be

5
necessary to achieve net-zero emissions. To stay below 1.5 °C of global warming, emissions
need to be cut by roughly 50% by 2030.
There are barriers to implementing the Agreement. Some countries struggle to attract the finance
necessary for investments in decarbonization. Climate finance is fragmented, further
complicating investments. In December 2020, the former chair of COP 21, Laurent Fabius,
argued that the implementation of the Paris Agreement could be bolstered by the adoption of a
Global Pact for the Environment. The latter would define the environmental rights and duties of
states, individuals, and businesses.
The effectiveness of the Paris Agreement to reach its climate goals is under debate, with most
experts saying it is insufficient for its more ambitious goal of keeping global temperature rise
under 1.5 °C. According to the 2020 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the
current climate commitments of the Paris Agreement, global mean temperatures will likely rise
by more than 3 °C by the end of the 21st century. Newer net-zero commitments were not
included in the NDCs and may bring down temperatures a further 0.5 °C.
In 2021, a study using a probabilistic model concluded that the rates of emissions reductions
would have to increase by 80% beyond NDCs to likely meet the 2 °C upper targets of the Paris
Agreement, that the probabilities of major emitters meeting their NDCs without such an increase
is very low. It estimated that with current trends the probability of staying below 2 °C of
warming is 5% – and 26% if NDCs were met and continued post-2030 by all signatories.

Paris Climate Agreement as a human rights issue

On 4 July 2022, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil recognized the Paris agreement as a
"humans right treaty". According to the ruling of the court in Brazil, it should "supersede
national law". In the same month the United Nations Human Rights Council in a resolution
"(A/HRC/50/L.10/Rev.1) on Human rights and climate change, adopted without a vote" called to
ratify and implement the agreement and emphasized the link between stopping climate change
and the right to food.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights officially recognized
that "Climate change threatens the effective enjoyment of a range of human rights including
those to life, water, and sanitation, food, health, housing, self-determination, culture, and
development."

Conclusion
The Paris Agreement is a great symbol of global unity for the preservation of the livable earth
and fighting against the adverse effect of climate change based on the greenhouse effect. It can

6
turn into a master tool for the rejuvenation of the natural environment if the parties of the pact
act according to their promise to reduce carbon emissions. We know that rich countries are
responsible parties for the excessive emission of greenhouse gas mainly Carbon-di-oxide but
poor countries more specifically the ones in the coastal areas are the most vulnerable to the
catastrophic impact of global warming. The whole world must keep its commitment to Paris
agreement so that the aim of the pact can be met in line with the expectation. Poor countries must
avail the monetary grant from climate funds so that they can take the required measure for their
protection against the challenges produced by the outcomes of climate change. Artificial
reduction of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere will help in lessening the global temperature.
Thus we can stick to the level of temperature close to the one during the pre-industrial age. The
entire universe must come in a body to materialize the aims of the Paris Agreement and save
mankind along with nature.