Creation has been in the news frequently over the past several weeks as major progress has occurred on the Paris Agreement. The main aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep a global average temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. For the agreement to take effect it needed to be ratified by over 55 parties representing over 55% of the Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions. As of October 18, 81 parties had ratified the agreement, including the US and China, which alone represent 38% of global emissions. India, Brazil, and Canada have also ratified.
The agreement taking effect triggers the launch of a governing body, and locks each country’s climate plan, which can be strengthened but not weakened, and obliges the countries to work toward the agreement’s temperature goals. Several major countries have yet to ratify the agreement, such as Russia and the UK and there are yet to be enforcement mechanisms. Nonetheless, this a major milestone in the global community’s efforts on climate change. “This is a truly historic moment for people everywhere. The two key thresholds needed for the Paris Climate Change Agreement to become legal reality have now been met,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Stay tuned as efforts ramps up around the world for meeting the goals set forth. The goal of the United States is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17% of 2005 levels by 2020, and by between 26-28% by 2025. To accomplish this, the EPA & President Obama created the Clean Power Plan which tasks each state with creating a plan for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Each state is assigned its own goal, and Michigan’s is 21.8 million tons, or 31 percent below 2012 levels, by 2030. Currently the Attorney General of Michigan, along with 19 other states, has appealed the legality of the EPA’s plan. A decision is awaited after District Court heard the case September 27, 2016.
Source: http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsroom/landmark-climate-change-agreement-to-enter-into-force/.