The Two Sides of the Paris Climate Agreement

Abstract

The December 2015 Paris Climate Agreement is better than no agreement. This is perhaps the best that can be said about it. The scientific evidence on global warming is alarming, and the likelihood depressingly small that the world can stay below a 2 C-even less a 1.5 C warming-over pre-industrial times. The Paris Agreement does not provide a blueprint for achieving these stabilization objectives. But it is ultimately the hope, however small, that a fundamental and rapid energy transition is achievable that must inform social and political behavior and activism in the coming years. In this sense, the Paris outcome is an aspirational global accord that will trigger and legitimize more climate action around the world. The question is whether this will happen quickly enough and at a sufficient scale to avoid disastrous warming of the planet. What is certain is that it will not occur without determined and far-reaching government intervention in energy markets in the next few years, particularly in the largest polluting countries.

Offshore Wind Power Integration into Future Power Systems: Overview and Trends

“…Nowadays, fossil fuel sources (i.e., coal, oil and natural gas) provide around 85% of the world energy demand, according to the BP Energy Outlook of 2019 [2]. However, with the Paris climate agreement established in December 2015, this energy scenario is about to change [3]. This climate agreement aims to restrict maximum increase in the global average temperature below 2 • C above pre-industrial levels [4].…”

Shifts in Spatial Plans for Flood Resilience and Climate Adaptation: Examining Planning Procedure and Planning Mandates

“…For example, in the United Kingdom, authorities increasingly require planners to restrict constructions in flood-prone areas to reduce flood exposure [9]; or, in Ghana, the poor enforcement of planning permission makes it impossible to restrict illegal urban construction which increases vulnerability to flood [10]. A similar concern arises more often in climate mitigation and adaptation studies: strong legal mandates of the authorities or the mandatory character of agreements may, in some cases, facilitate the effectiveness of agents' actions by providing resources or knowledge and shaping the perceptions of the issue [11,12].…”

South Asian river basins in a 1.5 °C warmer world

“…Climate change is identified as one of the major global issues, threatening the planet at various levels (IPCC 2014). Multiple attempts to streamline global policy on climate change mitigation have been made over the past decades, and the BParis Agreement^which was signed at the 21st Conference of the Parties in 2015 is considered a major breakthrough in formulating adequate measures to tackle climate change (Clemencon 2016;Savaresi 2016). During that conference, 195 countries agreed on Ba long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels,^and Bto aim to limit the increase to 1.5°C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change.^In response to this development, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published a Special Report on global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (IPCC 2018).…”