Paris Agreement Isn`t Enough

The authors of the agreement have set a withdrawal period that President Trump must follow – which prevents him from irreparably harming our climate. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday, the study shows that our efforts within a metre of sea level rise (which represents more than 3 feet for the metric illiterate among us) 2300, if everyone keeps the promises they set in the Paris Agreement. In other words, even if our best efforts to prevent the climate crisis will not be enough to protect coastal cities and buried islands. China and India have committed to meeting emissions targets under the Paris Agreement. China has pledged to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 60-65% from 2005 levels by 2030. India has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its economy by 33-35% from 2005 levels over the same period. A new study shows us that the Paris Agreement will not be enough to delay sea level rise, even if world leaders are really responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Recognizing that many developing countries and small island developing states that have contributed the least to climate change are most likely to suffer the consequences, the Paris Agreement contains a plan for developed countries – and others that are able to do so – to continue to provide financial resources to help developing countries reduce and increase their capacity to withstand climate change. The agreement builds on the financial commitments of the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, which aimed to increase public and private climate finance to developing countries to $100 billion per year by 2020.

(To put it in perspective, in 2017 alone, global military spending amounted to about $1.7 trillion, more than a third of which came from the United States. The Copenhagen Pact also created the Green Climate Fund to mobilize transformation funding with targeted public dollars. The Paris agreement expected the world to set a higher annual target by 2025 to build on the $100 billion target by 2020 and create mechanisms to achieve this. The NRDC is working to make the Global Climate Climate Action Summit a success by inspiring more ambitious commitments to the historic 2015 agreement and enhanced pollution reduction initiatives. Scientists warn that climate change could soon reach a point of no return. And while the moment of this turning point continues to create differences of opinion within the scientific community, there is a consensus on the best way to avoid this: a rapid reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.