Paris Climate Agreement

Why in NEWS ?

• US formally withdraws from Paris climate agreement.

About

• After a three-year delay, the US has become the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
• President Trump announced the move in June 2017, but UN regulations meant that his decision only takes effect today, the day after the US election.
• The US could re-join it in future, should a president choose to do so.

Why it took more than three years ?

• The delay is down to the complex rules that were built into the Paris agreement to cope with the possibility that a future US president might decide to withdraw the country from the deal.
• Previous attempts to put together a global pact on climate change had foundered because of internal US politics.
• The Clinton administration was unable to secure Senate backing for the Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997.
• So in the run up to the Paris climate talks, President Obama's negotiators wanted to ensure that it would take time for the US to get out if there was a change in leadership.
• Even though the agreement was signed in December 2015, the treaty only came into force on 4 November 2016, 30 days after at least 55 countries representing 55% of global emissions had ratified it.
• No country could give notice to leave the agreement until three years had passed from the date of ratification.
• Even then, a member state still had to serve a 12-month notice period on the UN.
• So, despite President Trump's White House announcement in June 2017, the US was only able to formally give notice to the UN in November 2019. The time has elapsed and the US is now out.

Its Effect

• While the US now represents around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it remains the world's biggest and most powerful economy.
• So when it becomes the only country to withdraw from a global solution to a global problem it raises questions of trust.
• For the past three years, US negotiators have attended UN climate talks while the administration has tried to use these events to promote fossil fuels.
• Being out formally obviously hurts the US reputation as this will be the second time that the United States has been the primary force behind negotiating a new climate deal - with the Kyoto Protocol which US never ratified, and in the case of the Paris Agreement, US left it.

Paris Climate Agreement (COP 21)

• The Paris deal was drafted in 2015 to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.
• It aims to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2C above pre- industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C.
• Aims to limit 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.
• Aims to review each country's contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge.
• For rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

What was agreed as part of the Paris climate deal?

• The deal unites all the world's nations in a single agreement on tackling climate change for the first time in history.
• Coming to a consensus among nearly 200 countries on the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions is regarded by many observers as an achievement in itself and has been hailed as "historic".
• The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 set emission cutting targets for a handful of developed countries, but the US pulled out and others failed to comply.
• However, scientists point out that the Paris accord must be stepped up if it is to have any chance of curbing dangerous climate change.
• Pledges thus far could see global temperatures rise by as much as 2.7C, but the agreement lays out a roadmap for speeding up progress.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)

• It means the contributions that need to be done by each country to achieve the overall global goal.
• The contributions need to be reported every 5 years to UNFCCC.
• The contributions are not legally binding.
• The goal is to make sure that all countries have access to technical expertise and financial capability to meet the climate challenges.

India at COP 21

1. India put out a statement that we need to grow rapidly to meet the aspiration of 1.25 billion population, and out of this 300 Million people are without access to energy.
2. Yet despite the growing demands, India has pledged to reduce emissions intensity per unit GDP by 33-35% of 2005 levels.
3. Aiming to reach 40% of installed capacity from non-fossil fuels.
4. Targeting 175 GW of renewable energy generation by 2022.
5. Planning to enlarge forest cover to absorb 2.5 Billion tonnes worth of carbon dioxide.
6. Reducing dependence on fossil fuels through levies and reduction in subsidies.
7. India exhorted on the principles of equity and differentiated responsibilities
8. As per India, equity means national commitments that must be consistent with the carbon space nations occupy.
9. India expects developed countries to mobilize 100 billion US dollars annually by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation in the developing countries.
10. Apart from this, India is taking various initiative like International Solar Alliance (ISA) to counter climate change

The International Solar Alliance (ISA)

• It is an alliance of more than 120 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which come either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
• The primary objective is to collectively work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil based fuels.
• This initiative was proposed by our Prime Minister of India first during his speech at Wembley Stadium, London.
• This initiative was launched at the India Africa Summit and a meeting was held among them before the conclave of 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris on November 2015.
• This is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. The alliance will take the shape of an international treaty once its rules are worked out.
• The Headquarters is in India with its Interim Secretariat being setup in Gurgaon.
• The agreement will become operational after at least 15 countries have ratified it.
• The framework agreement says that the members of ISA would take coordinated actions through programmes and activities that will aggregate the demands for solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, research and development, and capacity building.
• The ISA aims to develop cost-efficient solar technologies and applications.
• It is also expected to mobilise $1 trillion for funding solar energy projects by 2030