Climate Change Revolution: by-laws for the world

This article was exclusively written for the Sting by one of our passionate writers, Mr Animesh Upadhyay. The opinions expressed within reflect only the writer’s views and not The European Sting’s position on the issue. This year’s summit held in Bonn, Germany was mainly focused on Fiji, a country in the South Pacific which faced the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the South Pacific basin. The 1.4 billion USD damage shook the world and called for an immediate reform. Thus lead to an establishment of the 23^rd Conference of Parties with a reinforced goal of stabilizing the climate. The basic goal of COP 23 was to achieve “The Paris Agreement” and “The Kyoto Protocol”. Along with these major sustained developmental goals, the world leaders had to be convinced to be a party to such mass treaties. The Paris agreement was negotiated by the parties in Paris in November-December 2015, a part of COP21; it established specific actions and targets for reducing greenhouse gases emissions, mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, and financing the same efforts in developing countries. Although the agreement took an entire year to come into effect, the signatory countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times and to make strong efforts to keep the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement is especially significant because it is a legally binding agreement, comprising over 195 countries. The 32-page Paris agreement with 29 articles is widely recognized as a historic deal to stop global warming. In French, the Paris agreement is known as L’accord de Paris. Paris accord talks about limiting the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100. It also mentions the need to review each country’s contribution of cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge. Rich countries should help poorer nations by providing “climate finance” to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy. The Paris agreement has a ‘bottom up’ structure in contrast to most international environmental law treaties which are ‘top down. Psychology defines bottom-up processing as an approach wherein there is a progression from the individual elements to the whole. On the other hand, the Kyoto protocol had similar interests but focussed mainly on levying policies and rules to control emissions of the main anthropogenic (i.e., human-emitted) greenhouse gases (GHGs). The protocol believed in establishing the following concepts; it established legally binding commitments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases for Annex I Parties; Annex I Parties are required to prepare policies and measures for the reduction of greenhouse gases in their respective countries. In addition, they are required to increase the absorption of these gases and utilize all mechanisms available along with a compliance committee. The Paris agreement and the Kyoto accord, although based on voluntary national contributions, was unequivocally a rare triumph for international climate conference. Alas, the excitement did not last long. The subsequent u-turn of the United States- President Donald Trump has resolved to leave the deal, reckoning it ill-conceived and intolerably unfair to the US economy- has inevitably dampened spirits. Even so, the rest of the world has pledged to stand firm. The first conference of the parties to the agreement in the Trump era must now work out how to proceed without the world’s largest economy. In theory, the annual climate roller coaster is idling through one of the low-key phases in which success is measured by “nothing going wrong”. In practice, the Bonn meeting will serve as a litmus test of how the rest of the world plans to stand united and to keep the spirit of Paris alive. About the author Animesh Upadhyay is a curious medical student on the path to find the true intellect and combining this with passion; makes him a go-getter. He has published scientific papers and presented many others in National Conferences. He balances academics with being active in endurance sports, social services and writing.