Short Takes: Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement

Short Takes: Kyoto Protocol and Paris

Agreement

UPSC GENERAL STUDIES:

Paper II: Agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests 

Paper III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment 

Table of Content

Quotes

Difference between Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement

(Origin, Commitments, Funding etc.)

Overall Assessment of the Paris Agreement

Is the Paris Agreement toothless?
Does the Paris Agreement take care of India's historical stand on Climate Change?
Note on India's INDC

Associated Issue

(Lima-Peru Action Agenda)

Bibliography

Infographics (Revision)

“On climate change, we often don't fully appreciate that it is a problem. We think it is a problem waiting to happen.”

- Kofi Annan

(Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. Annan, along with the UN, were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.)

“The clear and present danger of climate change means we cannot burn our way to prosperity. We already rely too heavily on fossil fuels. We need to find a new, sustainable path to the future we want. We need a clean industrial revolution.”

- Ban Ki-moon

(Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean statesman and politician who is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations.)

"Unless We Take Action On Climate Change, Future Generations Will Be Roasted, Toasted, Fried And Grilled"

- Christine Lagarde

(Christine Lagarde is a French lawyer and politician who has been the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund since 5 July 2011.)

To avoid the most extreme consequences of climate change, the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) decided in December 2010 to commit to a maximum temperature rise of 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to consider lowering that maximum to 1.5°C in the near future.

Difference between Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement

Origin of Kyoto and Paris

Kyoto Protocol: The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) human-made CO2 emissions have caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. (First commitment period expired on 31^st December, 2012)

Paris Agreement: The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the UNFCCC dealing with GHGs mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 (Earth Day). As of September 2016, 180 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty, 28 of which have ratified it. The agreement will only enter into force provided that 55 countries that produce at least 55% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ratify, accept, approve or accede to the agreement.

Commitment of Developing Countries

Under the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries were not required to join the industrialized world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement includes the idea of a universal commitment, at least in principle, by essentially all of the world’s countries.

Approach to Setting Target

A marked departure from the past is the Agreement’s bottom-up approach, allowing each nation to submit its own national plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, rather than trying to repeat a top-down approach advocated by the Kyoto Protocol, giving each country an emission reduction target. 

Specific National Commitment

Vague treaty language is generally undesirable because it makes it quite difficult to measure compliance. The reason that the Paris accord does not include specific national commitments for emissions reductions is that participation by the United States would have been impossible if these had been included. Kyoto Protocol commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.

Funding Pattern

Funding Patter so far: At the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, developed countries collectively committed to contribute USD 100 billion of climate finance per year by 2020 in the context of meaningful mitigation action and transparency of implementation. A recent OECD report has estimated that developing countries mobilised USD 62 billion of climate finance in 2014.

Article 9 of the Paris Agreement: Stipulates that developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention. Other Parties are encouraged to provide or continue to provide such support voluntarily. (READ THIS WAY: Even developing countries especially the fast emerging economies of the global south have been encouraged to do more!)

Focus both on adaptation and mitigation: In addition, Article 9 states that the provision of scaled-up financial resources should aim to achieve a balance between adaptation and mitigation, taking into account country-driven strategies, and the priorities and needs of developing country Parties, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and have significant capacity constraints, such as the least developed countries and small island developing States, considering the need for public and grant-based resources for adaptation.

Appeal to do more: The accompanying Decision to the Paris Climate Agreement calls for enhanced action prior to 2020. It urges developed countries to scale up climate finance and prepare a concrete roadmap to achieving the 100 billion goal by 2020, covering both mitigation and adaptation action. It also urges developed countries to provide more support for capacity building and appropriate technology.

Overall Assessment of the Paris Agreement

Major International Success: Major success for the United Nations and intergovernmental cooperation, and is the first major multilateral deal of the twenty-first century.

Clean Energy here to stay: As a universal and legally binding Agreement, it sends a clear signal to all stakeholders, that the global transition to clean energy is here to stay. It sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C – and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.

All policy and implementation tools to ensure success included: The Paris Agreement contains all the indispensable ingredients of a regime that delivers real and effective climate action – including a long-term goal, a 5-year ambition cycle and a transparency and accountability system.

Financing Issues: The Agreement and the decisions in Paris also confirm that developed countries will continue to take the lead in mobilising climate finance to support the poorest and most vulnerable countries. However, an accompanying decision taken in Paris clarifies that the provisions in the Paris Agreement on loss and damage do not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation.

Overall Paris Agreement heralds a good start towards adapting to and mitigating the impact of climate change.

“Paris Agreement is toothless and has no definite target, 

no mechanisms to enforce actions, and therefore will have little 

impact.” Discuss critically.

Vague Language & no definite target: Framework treaties typically establish broad, overarching goals at the outset (Climate change is bad—we should so something). This facilitates agreement by a wide range of countries and typically includes, as does the Paris Agreement, a process for regular meetings and revisions.

Subsequent protocols negotiated by the Parties to the Convention then elaborate more specific commitments. So we can expect to see more details in coming years. Pay special attention to something called REDD+, which is expected to mobilize billions of dollars annually from polluters in rich countries to promote forest conservation in the tropics.

How to enforce action? Attempt to manage planet earth is an effort at global governance in the absence of an international government. Nations hold the political power, regulatory authority, and purse strings. The Paris Agreement will be significant only to the extent that it can motivate domestic policy change, cross-national technical assistance, and social pressure to reduce nations’ dependence on fossil fuels.

In this regard, the Paris Agreement’s new emphasis on transparent national approaches is potentially significant. When civil society organizations have access to high quality information about their governments’ policies and performance, this can be a powerful force for change.******

Impact? A significant body of research shows that even when policy reformers have fallen short of their substantive policy goals (such as binding national climate commitments), revisions in how decision-making occurs—in this case, subjecting government performance to greater public scrutiny—can have salutary long-term effects.

******Mechanism to ensure that countries deliver on their commitment include:

The transparency, accountability and compliance system under the Paris Agreement: Meant to identify when Parties are off track and help them to get back on track if they are not delivering.

Requirements, institutions and procedures applicable to all Parties to track and facilitate Parties' performance. These include technical expert reviews, a multilateral peer review process, and a standing committee on implementation and compliance.

Furthermore, the five-yearly 'global stocktake' will assess collective progress prior to each round of new commitments.

Is India’s historic stand adequately taken care of by the 

modalities laid out under Paris Agreement?

Poverty & Deprivation abound in India: India houses 30 per cent of the global poor, 24 per cent of global population without access to electricity, and 92 million people without access to safe drinking water. Coupled with its vulnerability in terms of the impact of climate change, this entails that India faces formidable and complex challenges in terms of balancing the sustainable development agenda.

India’s emission nowhere near US/China: If historical CO2 emissions from 1970 to 2014 are considered, India with 39.0 Gt is way behind the top three emitters – the USA, the EU and China. In 2014, in terms of absolute emissions, China was at the top, while in terms of per capita emissions, the USA was at the top. India’s per capita emissions are among the lowest in the world.

Paris Agreement acknowledges above facts: Paris agreement seeks to enhance global action against climate change and limit global warming while reflecting the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), in the light of different national circumstances.

India has responded positively to Paris framework: The above stats make the importance of CBDR-RC principles abundantly clear. It allows for countries to submit their voluntarily determined INDCs. It has allowed India to submit an ambitious plan in terms of clean energy, energy efficiency and lower emission intensity while addressing the critical issue of poverty and food security.

Note on India’s INDCs

India’s INDC is comprehensive and covers all elements, i.e. adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology and capacity building.

Guided by values of tradition and moderation: To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.

Sustainable Development Path: To adopt a climate friendly and cleaner path than the one hitherto followed by others at a corresponding level of economic development.

Emission Intensity: To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent of the 2005 level by 2030.

Electricity Generation: To achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel- based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance including from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Forest Cover-Carbon Sink: To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq.) through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

Adaptation efforts for Vulnerable Areas/Sections: To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, the Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.

Funding: To mobilize domestic and new and additional funds from developed countries for implementing these mitigation and adaptation actions in view of the resources required and the resource gap.

Technology: To build capacities, create a domestic framework and an international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting-edge climate technology in India and for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.

India’s INDC have been welcomed as fair and ambitious, specifically in the renewable energy and forestry sectors.

Associated Issue

What is the Agenda of Solutions or the Lima-Peru Action Agenda (LPAA)?

Alongside the Paris Agreement, which is an undertaking among States, an Agenda of Solutions, more commonly referred to as the LPAA (Lima-Peru Action Agenda) during the COP21, involves the commitments of non-state actors such as companies, local authorities, NGOs, indigenous populations and others, who are not authorised to negotiate an international agreement.

These actions and commitments are grouped together on an Internet platform called NAZCA (Non-state Actor Zone for Climate Action) or LPAA, which centralises all collective actions. In January, slightly less than a month after the COP21, some 10,825 commitments had been registered by cities, regions, investors and companies concerning deforestation, GHG emission reductions or transport.

This agenda was launched by U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-Moon at the Climate Summit in New York in September 2014 and then by Peru and France, the hosts of COP20 and COP21, which are promoting it today.

The objective of this agenda, also known as the Positive Agenda, which is unprecedented in the history of climate negotiations, is twofold:

First, to encourage all actors to undertake strong measures to fight against climate change.

Second, to send a political signal to the States to show that a broad coalition of economic, financial, and institutional actors is ready to act to achieve common goals and that this represents a development opportunity for everyone.

Bibliogrpahy

What does the Paris Agreement really mean for Climate Change?

http://blog.oup.com/2015/12/paris-agreement-climate-change/

UNFCCC Website

http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php

UNFCCC – Climate Finance

http://unfccc.int/cooperation_and_support/financial_mechanism/items/2807.php

Questions and Answers on Paris Agreement

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/negotiations/paris/docs/qa_paris_agreement_en.pdf

Infographic