While these are not the long-term sustained temperatures targeted by the agreement, average temperatures in the first half of 2016 were about 1.3°C (2.3°F) above the 1880 average when global records began. [26] Others say that the U.S. withdrawal is due in part to the Obama administration`s failure to get the Paris Agreement ratified by the U.S. Senate. The Kyoto Protocol, a landmark environmental treaty adopted at COP3 in Japan in 1997, represents the first time that countries have agreed on country-specific emission reduction targets that are legally mandated. The protocol, which only entered into force in 2005, set binding emission reduction targets only for developed countries, based on the assumption that they were responsible for most of the Earth`s high greenhouse gas emissions. The United States first signed the agreement, but never ratified it; President George W. Bush argued that the deal would hurt the United States. The economy, as developing countries such as China and India were not included. Without the participation of these three countries, the effectiveness of the treaty has proven to be limited, as its objectives cover only a small fraction of total global emissions. At the 2011 UNITED NATIONS Climate Change Conference, the Durban Platform (and the ad hoc working group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) was established with the aim of negotiating a legal instrument for climate action from 2020 onwards.
The resulting agreement is expected to be adopted in 2015. [62] INDCs become NDCs – Nationally Determined Contributions – as soon as a country formally accedes to the Agreement. There are no specific requirements on how countries should reduce their emissions or to what extent, but there have been political expectations regarding the nature and severity of the targets set by different countries. As a result, national plans vary considerably in scope and ambition, largely reflecting each country`s capacities, level of development and contribution to emissions over time. China, for example, has pledged to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2030 at the latest and to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60 to 65 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. India has set a target of reducing emissions intensity by 33-35% from 2005 levels by 2030 and producing 40% of its electricity from non-fossil sources. In 2014, President Xi and I gathered in Beijing to announce groundbreaking climate goals for our two countries. This announcement set us on the path to Paris by launching intensive diplomatic efforts to put other countries on the same path. In 2015, we met in Washington to define additional steps our two countries would take, as well as a roadmap to reach a strong agreement in Paris.
This year, in 2016, we are meeting again to formally commit to joining the agreement earlier, creating the prospect that the agreement could also enter into force earlier than planned. These transparency and accountability provisions are similar to those in other international agreements. While the system does not involve financial sanctions, the requirements are aimed at easily tracking each nation`s progress and fostering a sense of global peer pressure, discouraging any hesitation between countries that might consider this. “What Obama did at the end of his second term was fundamentally undemocratic to sign a Paris agreement without going to the Senate and Congress and instead by decree,” said former UN climate chief Yvo De Boer. Paris Agreement, fully Paris Agreement Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as the Paris Climate Agreement or COP21, an international treaty, named after the city of Paris, France, in which it was adopted in December 2015, which aimed to reduce gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The Paris Agreement aimed to improve and replace the Kyoto Protocol, a previous international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It entered into force on 4 November 2016 and has been signed by 194 countries and ratified by 188 by November 2020. .
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