The United States Commitment to Climate Change Action: Simplifying the Paris Climate Agreement1/26/2021 Some important Executive Orders have been signed by President Biden since he was sworn in on Wednesday January 20. One of these includes the Executive Order to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, a worldwide effort to combat climate change. What is the Paris Climate Agreement? The Paris Climate Agreement is an international treaty on climate change, agreed upon by 196 state parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (1), which took place near Paris, France in 2015. The Agreement is the culmination of decades of international efforts to combat climate change. It is significant because it means the majority of the World’s leaders, who do not always agree, understand that humans are driving climate change, and that we can only mitigate it with global action (2, 3). The Agreement, which began in 2016, addresses greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions with the overall goal of limiting global warming to below 2 (ideally below 1.5) degrees C above pre-industrial levels. Why Greenhouse gases? GHGs are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. While some of these gases are naturally emitted to the atmosphere, human activity is responsible for the substantial increase in their levels since the Industrial Revolution (4). Their presence in the atmosphere is bad because some can remain there for thousands of years. As they accumulate over time, they slowly alter Earth’s climate (5) by increasing average global temperatures. The increased temperature in the atmosphere, even by one degree, can facilitate more extreme weather (6) events across the planet. Although 2.5C may not seem like a lot, it will have numerous direct and indirect impacts.To read more about what this temperature increase would look like, check out this interactive website by the Carbon Brief. Common GHGs include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons. Some, like methane, impact Earth’s atmosphere more strongly than others by trapping heat more effectively. These gases have many origins including through the burning of fossil fuels (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide), application of fertilizers (methane, nitrous oxide), raising livestock (methane, nitrous oxide) and maintaining landfills (methane). How does the Agreement work? Broadly, the treaty works on a 5 year cycle and requires both social and economic change based around the best available science. Working towards a worldwide goal, the Agreement has a bottom-up structure. Each country must establish and submit its own climate action plan, called a nationally determined contribution (NDC), by 2020. Each NDC plan outlines nationally determined targets and intended mitigation and adaptation actions to reduce GHG emissions and to build resilience to combat the impacts of rising temperatures on Earth. Involvement by a country is voluntary, and plans are considerably variable amongst countries. This is because actions and intentions should reflect a country’s level of development, access to technology and scientific innovation, and its contribution to carbon emissions over time. Additionally, more developed countries should provide financial assistance to developing countries that are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The treaty states that each country’s commitments to these outlined actions should strengthen over time by reflecting advancing technologies. To track the progress, the Agreement established an enhanced transparency framework, in which each country will submit reports beginning in 2024 outlining actions taken, adaptation measures, and financial support given or received. The reports will be used collectively to assess progress towards long term goals (3). The United States’ Involvement President Obama entered into the Agreement by Executive Order. He was able to do this because the United States already had tools and carbon-cutting emissions laws already enacted by Congress. The US entered into the Agreement in 2016. The United States has committed to cutting its total GHG emissions by ~27 percent below its 2005 levels by 2025 (3). This is important because the U.S. is currently the second largest emitter, and is just behind China, which recently surpassed the U.S. as the largest emitter. The U.S. plans to achieve this using laws, regulations and incentives to continue and increase efforts in advancing renewable energies as alternatives to fossil fuels, and by developing better energy storage technologies. In June 2017, President Trump announced the United States withdrawal from the Agreement. This became official on November 4, 2020 within a larger effort to reverse environmental policy in the U.S. He cited that the Agreement would hurt the US economy. Research, however, clarifies that climate inaction will outweigh the immediate costs of the U.S. committed actions within the Agreement (3). Additionally, studies show that green infrastructure investments in clean energy and energy efficiency would likely have major, long term global rewards including job creation, scientific innovation, and becoming a leader in renewable energy (3). President Biden signed an Executive Order on January 20, 2021 to rejoin the Agreement. The United States will officially rejoin the Agreement 30 days after the Administration sends a letter of intent to the United Nations. Benefits: We are already seeing the impacts of climate change through more severe wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, and flooding. Rising sea levels are already impacting coastal communities with effects reaching inland to the Great Lakes. The Agreement provides a global acknowledgement of the threat of climate change, and a consensus that human behaviors are driving the rapid change. Challenges: The action plans that have currently been laid out by participating countries, will likely only limit temperature change to 2.9 degrees C, which is significantly higher than the upper 2 degree limit (7). Additionally, current evaluations of countries participating show that many countries are already falling short of their intended commitments (8, 9). This includes the United States, which is only on track to reduce emissions by ~17%. An important note: Even though an Executive Order does not go through the same legislative process as a bill that becomes law, advocacy is still important. Sending “thank you” notes or emails to your legislators who support a bill, an Executive Order, or other legislative efforts are powerful tools in forming relationships, and tells your legislator that they are representing their constituents’ needs. We encourage people to reach out to their legislators with appreciation, questions, or concerns. Footnotes
Carbon Brief Interactive Website: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/impacts-climate-change-one-point-five-degrees-two-degrees/?utm_source=web&utm_campaign=Redirect
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