Internationaal verdrag van Parijs [2015]

Overeenkomst van Parijs, volledig Overeenkomst van Parijs Overeenkomstig het Raamverdrag van de Verenigde Naties inzake klimaatverandering, ook wel Klimaatovereenkomst van Parijs of COP21 genoemd, internationaal verdrag, genoemd naar de stad Parijs, Frankrijk, waarin het in december 2015 werd aangenomen en dat tot doel had de de uitstoot van gassen die bijdragen aan de opwarming van de aarde. Met de Overeenkomst van Parijs werd beoogd het Kyoto-protocol te verbeteren en te vervangen, een eerder internationaal verdrag dat bedoeld is om de uitstoot van broeikasgassen tegen te gaan. Het is in werking getreden op 4 november 2016 en is ondertekend door 197 landen en geratificeerd door 187 vanaf november 2019.

Verkent

De takenlijst van de aarde

Menselijk optreden heeft geleid tot een enorme cascade van milieuproblemen die nu het voortbestaan ​​van zowel natuurlijke als menselijke systemen bedreigen. Het oplossen van de kritieke milieuproblemen van opwarming van de aarde, waterschaarste, vervuiling en verlies van biodiversiteit zijn misschien wel de grootste uitdagingen van de 21e eeuw. Zullen we opstaan ​​om ze te ontmoeten?

Van 30 november tot 11 december 2015 heeft Frankrijk vertegenwoordigers uit 196 landen ontvangen op de VN-conferentie over klimaatverandering, een van de belangrijkste en meest ambitieuze mondiale klimaatbijeenkomsten ooit gehouden. Het doel was niet minder dan een bindende en universele overeenkomst die was ontworpen om de uitstoot van broeikasgassen te beperken tot niveaus die zouden voorkomen dat de mondiale temperaturen meer dan 2 ° C (3,6 ° F) boven de temperatuurbenchmark zouden stijgen vóór het begin van de industriële revolutie.

Background

The meeting was part of a process dating back to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when countries initially joined the international treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Seeing the need to strengthen emission reductions, in 1997, countries adopted the Kyoto Protocol. That protocol legally bound developed countries to emission reduction targets. However, the agreement was widely believed to be ineffective because the world’s two top carbon dioxide-emitting countries, China and the United States, chose not to participate. China, a developing country, was not bound by the Kyoto Protocol, and many U.S. government officials used this fact to justify U.S. nonparticipation.

At the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18), held in Doha, Qatar, in 2012, delegates agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020. They also reaffirmed their pledge from COP17, which had been held in Durban, South Africa, in 2011, to create a new, comprehensive, legally binding climate treaty by 2015 that would require all countries—including major carbon emitters not abiding by the Kyoto Protocol—to limit and reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

In the lead-up to the Paris meeting, the UN tasked countries to submit plans detailing how they intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those plans were technically referred to as intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs). By December 10, 2015, 185 countries had submitted measures to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 or 2030. The U.S. announced in 2014 its intention to reduce its emissions 26–28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. To help accomplish that goal, the country’s Clean Power Plan was to set limits on existing and planned power plant emissions. China, the country with the largest total greenhouse gas emissions, set its target for the peaking of its carbon dioxide emissions “around 2030 and making best efforts to peak early.” Chinese officials also endeavoured to lower carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60–65 percent from the 2005 level.

India’s INDC noted the challenges of eradicating poverty while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. About 24 percent of the global population without access to electricity (304 million) resided in India. Nevertheless, the country planned to “reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030” versus the 2005 levels. The country also sought to derive about 40 percent of its electric power from renewable energy sources rather than from fossil fuels by 2030. The INDC noted that the implementation plans would not be affordable from domestic resources: it estimated that at least $2.5 trillion would be needed to accomplish climate-change actions through 2030. India would achieve that goal with the help of technology transfer (the movement of skills and equipment from more-developed countries to less-developed countries [LDCs]) and international finance, including assistance from the Green Climate Fund (a program designed to assist, through investments in low-emission technologies and climate-resilient development, populations vulnerable to the effects of climate change).