A Systems Critique of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate

Canadian emissions and unconventional oil production exceed the 2°C global warming scenario

“…There is a growing gap between the total amount of fossil fuels that producing countries are planning to extract versus the total amount needed to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement (UN Environment Programme, 2019). So far, the accord has failed to control emissions, as was predicted from the start because of the lack of accountability and of appropriate national carbon budgets (Kemp, 2018;Rogelj et al, 2016;Spash, 2016).…”

Applying a leverage points framework to the United Nations climate negotiations: The (dis)empowerment of youth participants

“…While hailed by many as an achievement, the Paris Agreement was also heavily criticized by some climate justice organizations as being insufficient to limit global average warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a benchmark for small island and low-lying coastal nations. It has also been critiqued academically, where scholars have highlighted it may be insufficient to adequately mitigate emissions (Allan, 2019;Kemp, 2018). Youth, in particular, were among the most critical of the agreement, arguing that it did not contain stringent enough measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect young and future generations.…”

“…The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP) is an annual gathering of countries that have ratified this treaty, often cautiously lauded as a solution to climate change (Savaresi, 2016a(Savaresi, , 2016bSeres, 2013), though not without criticism about its effectiveness (Kemp, 2018). The UNFCCC is an institutional framework of significance to national and international climate change policies, in particular through global accords such as the Kyoto Protocol…”

Legitimacy Has Risks and Benefits for Effective International Marine Management

“…Over the past decade, exposure to several publicly salient UN climate summits may have rendered citizens on average more aware of UN activities on climate change [33] and therefore also more critical toward climate institutions than, for example, security and finance institutions [34]. Interestingly, experts tend to be critical toward all rated environmental institutions, which could be due to ongoing debates about the ability of global institutions to limit global warming to safe levels in a "post-Paris world" [35,36]. In financial affairs, citizens and NGOs are most critical and member states least critical, with some exceptions.…”