HSmith_Assignment1

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Dec 6, 2023

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Hannah Smith ECCB-320-500 Homework 1: The Paris Climate Accord The Paris Climate Accord is an international treaty formed under the United Nations (UN) which is working to combat the devastation caused by climate change. This treaty serves as an agreement between countries worldwide to work together to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1 2 C, or 36 F, above the temperature benchmark. This landmark agreement went into effect in November of 2016 following its adoption by 196 parties at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, making it arguably one of the most ambitious meetings for climate change to ever occur. The Paris Climate Accord is dependent on economic and societal action that stays current with the available resources and science of each country that adopted it. This agreement works in cycles of 5 years, with a plan for action that dictates the cycle. Each cycle uses information previously gathered to develop more effective plans to combat climate change. 2 These plans, known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, are made by each country to gather all the information possible to make an even stronger plan than the last. Some countries are outperforming others in meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. These countries are using a variety of methods to find the most successful, such as India, who, despite being one of the world leaders in gas emissions, has had some of the most success in upholding the agreement due to their use of solar energy. 3 Other actions, focusing on more structural or economic measure, have been taken by leading countries in this effort, such as investing in “low-carbon transportation,” more efficient 1 Rafferty, J. P. (2023, September 6). Paris agreement . Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paris-Agreement-2015 2 UNFCCC. (n.d.). The Paris Agreement . United Nations Climate Change. https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement 3 Rosen, J. (2019, September 23). Here’s how 6 countries are stepping up to meet the Paris Climate Goals . Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-09-22/how-countries-are-meeting-climate-change-goals
public transportation, limiting the use of coal, creating more efficient buildings, or even offering budgetary price cuts to those that reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Other countries have decided to act in a way that focuses less on structural or economic changes and more on ecological restoration and conservation. Countries like Costa Rica and Gambia are prime examples of this. As of last year, a piece of legislation was passed in Gambia that stating a plan to “restore large areas of forest, mangroves and savanna that will suck up carbon dioxide” (Rosen, 2019). Costa Rica is also a great example of meeting their “Paris pledge” using more ecological restoration and conservation methods. What sets this country apart is that roughly 80% of all energy in Costa Rica is derived from hydropower with almost all the rest of their energy coming from renewable energy resources. They are extremely dedicated to meeting their Paris pledge as they have even placed a suspension on oil drilling in their country until the year 2025. Moreover, Costa Rica has managed to restore much of their past deforestation and has gone one step further even by enacting a new composting system that is predicted to increase the forest cover to roughly 60% of their terrain. This is not to say that Gambia and Costa Rica are the only successful countries in carrying out their Paris pledge using ecological-based methods, but these are two great examples of alternative methods that other countries may benefit from. With the climate change crisis reaching near critical levels, the Paris Climate Accord and the nationally determined contributions are now more important than ever. With the goal of keeping global temperatures from exceeding 1.5 – 2 C above the benchmark temperature and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is important that all 196 parties who adopted this treaty work hard to meet their “Paris pledge’s” and create ambitious, efficacious plans for upcoming cycles to fulfill these goals.
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