The Paris Climate Change And Investment Towards A Low Carbon Economy, Sustainable Cities And Clean Energy

The UNFCCC is working with the various governments around the world to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere to keep the planet from warming more than 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures (Watts, 2015). The most noted of the work is the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings that began with COP1 in Berlin back in 1995. The COP3 adopted the Kyoto Protocol, even though it wasn’t fully accepted by all member nations. The COP21 was an effort to legally bind members to their submitted plans of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), defining what level of greenhouse gas production each nation would commit to not exceeding from 2025-2030. Prior to the INDCs, a bleak outlook was forecast in 2009-2010 of global temperature rising between 4-5ºC. That figure was restated by the UNFCCC prior to the COP21 in Paris, to below 3ºC, due to the commitments of the INDCs (Watts, 2015).

conservatives caricature liberal ideas in highly misleading ways”(Manza, 2010, p. 478). Liberals believe, and it has always been my opinion, that states can come together to overcome problems that, will eventually, affect everyone (Goldstien, 2005, p.55). A realist would say that this is a key weakness of liberalism, envisaging utopia, when we should be focused on how the world really is (Goldstien, 2005, p.55). In response I would hold my optimistic/ idealistic head high and wave the current news headlines in front of them; “World leaders make history with climate deal in Paris (Al Jazeera and AFP)”. Jeremy Bentham, one of liberalisms key thinkers, argued that creating an international law, in this case a climate change treaty, that pushed aside self-interest and made sacrifices on behalf of the state would make way for a universal ideal, resulting in the most possible happiness of all nations as one (Sutch, Elias, Juanita, 2007, p. 67). On the 12th of December, in the French capital, leaders from 195 nations came together to sign an unparalleled agreement on climate change, a legally binding deal to limit carbon emissions (Al Jezeera, 2015). This is an example of Bentham’s ideals and Liberalism’s core values, the presence of a real harmony and homogenization of

Copenhagen Accord, Paris Accord and COP-17 to help slow the impact of every nation on the

It requires all parties to put their best efforts and requirements to report emissions on a regular basis. Every 5 years, there will be a global stock take to assess the progress toward achieving the purpose of the Agreement (UNFCCC- The Paris Agreement, 2018). A climate change conference where leaders all over the world came together to address climate change, have a goal to deliver action by 2020. In order to be successful, participating countries must make enough provisions to develop financial and technological support to help developing countries. The Marrakech partnership for good clime change action provides agreed outcomes in Paris, by providing a detailed structure to help speed up and get rid of gas emissions, scale down the pace of climate action among parties and non-parties steak holders in all parts of the world. Each year the action plan will continue to evolve as progress is made and new challenges and opportunities arise. The Paris agreement requires all parties to forward their effects nationally determined contributions. This includes regular reports on emissions and plans to success. As all parties have agreed to work together during the time frame 2017-2020, there has been current progeress to minimizing emissions (UNFCCC- Marrakech partnership for global climate action,

The main claim of Pamela Chaseks’s presentation was that through government and industry climate change can be stopped. Chasek discusses several instances when governments united regarding climate change as well as how these governments have impacted climate change, if at all. For example,a successful negotiation was Lima 2014, the United States and China agreed to reduce emissions; however, at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 developed countries made an agreement that left developing countries out of the loop. This caused smaller states weary of states who hold more power. This displays that government cooperation and communication is needed to successfully execute the issue of climate change. Without concise agreements and negotiations

The city’s top three energy goals include increasing overall city energy efficiency by 5%, city building energy efficiency by 10%, and the renewable energy usage by 20 megawatts (City of Chicago, 2015a). Further, since 71% of carbon emissions come from the energy used by buildings in the city (City of Chicago, 2015a), it is unsurprising that government has taken notice. As stated by the City of Chicago (2015a), a goal has been set to increase renewable energy use 25% by the year 2026. Reductions in carbon emissions are not only beneficial in terms of energy efficiency, but they also reduce harm to the environment that can lead to climate change (City of Chicago, 2015a). It is also important to note that increasing energy efficiency can include building new, costly infrastructure that will pay off long-term, or can be as easy as replacing all street lights with energy efficient bulbs. In fact, updating street light energy efficiency is such a simple and cost-effective energy usage reduction tactic, it used in many of the cities we have studied this semester, such as Portland (Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 2011). It is evident that the City of Chicago (2015a) believes that no sustainable effort is insignificant.

In contrast, informing the public of conflict helps a mass amount of people. When conflict is introduced to the public, civilians are inspired to change their opinions. Just recently, on December 12, 2015, the Paris Agreement was created, which is an agreement among countries around the globe, promising to do what they can to prevent or at least slow down the effects of climate change. However, in order to prevent climate change, civilians must be knowledgeable on the topic. Therefore, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change holds conventions, which “calls on Parties to promote and cooperate in research, systematic observation and the development of data archives, including through exchange of information; to support programmes, networks and organizations; and improve the capacities of developing countries” (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

“Scientists have been warning about global warming for decades. It's too late to stop it now, but we can lessen its severity and impacts” - David Suzuki. Global warming, a primary topic of debate in various conversations throughout all levels of government, has been an issue for countless years. In fact, of the 134 years recorded, the 10 warmest years have all occurred “since 2000, with the exception of 1998 “(NASA). Solving a global issue such as this is not as easy as it may seem; however ,The Paris Agreement vows to do just that by setting a plan to limit global warming to well below 2°C in “the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal” (Europa). Before signing off on such an agreement one must analyze the many negatives

As of recently, the Paris Climate Talks gathered several of world’s leading nations to discuss the effects and measures needed to be taken to combat the on going threat of

The climate change impacts of greenhouse gases threaten the economic development and environmental quality. These threats indicate that all nations regardless their economic growth should work collaboratively to reduce the emission to a certain level. Hare et al. (2011) argued that “climate change is a collective action problem” thus requires a global coordination from all countries. This indicates that actions from several countries would never be sufficient to address the climate change problem. If a global target to limit warming to 2°C or below is about to achieve (UNFCCC 2010, p.4) a broad range of participation is required (Hare et al., 2011). However, the increasing complexity of negotiation processes is inevitable. Each country will pursue its own interests during the

According to an article focused on environmental awareness, “the world’s average surface temperature rose by approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit, the fastest rate in any period over the last 1000 years” (Source A). Damage has already been done to the environment but it is not the time to throw our hands up, it is the time for leaders in all sectors to tackle this issue head on. We know that carbon dioxide is the culprit, so now it is imperative to implement the solution and take a hard look at who is producing the most greenhouse gases. Big changes need to take place but they can only be done in steps and not all at once to be effective. In an excerpt from a book about global warming, Mark Maslin brings up the point that many feel the Kyoto Protocol does not go far enough; scientists believe that a 60% cut of greenhouse gas emissions is necessary in order to “prevent major climate change” (Source E). A sixty percent cut of emissions should be what countries work up to achieving but first and foremost, every country needs to agree to the Kyoto Protocol guidelines. The Kyoto Protocol itself should not be viewed as the end in the discussion of greenhouse gas restrictions, but rather the first stepping stone to a much broader and effective

Global warming is one of the major issues in society right now. Global warming is effecting many creatures around the world such as polar bears and penguins. On April 22 the prime minister, Justin Trudeau signed the Paris Accord. A treaty signed by several countries to reduce global warming. My visual representation represents the prime minister signing the Accord and hoping what we will achieve by doing so. Some people think this will not reduce global warming or stop climate change while the others think it will.

As Leonardo DiCaprino said, “As a UN messenger of piece I have travailed all over the world for the last 2 years have seen city’s like Beijing chock by industrial pollution. Accent boreal forests in Canada that have been cleared cut and rain forests in Indonesia that have been incinerated and indimeck farmers whose crops have literally been washed away and America I witnessed the sea level rise, flooding the streets of Miami and in Greenland and the artic I was astonished to see the ancient glaziers are rapidly disappearing well ahead of scientific predictions. All that I have seen and learned on my journey has absolutely terrified me, now think about the shame that each of us will carry when out children and grandchildren look back and realise that we have the means of stopping this devastation but simply lack the political will to do so, yes we have archived the Paris agreement more countries have come together here to sign this agreement today then for any other cause then in the history of human kind and that is the reason for hope.

In their introduction to the chapter "Why International Organisations Matter," which was contributed to Business and the Politics of Globalisation: After the Global Financial Crisis, authors Xu Yi-chong and Patrick Weller begin the rhetorical defense of international organisations (IOs) by providing a review of recent global crises, and describing the various roles that global groups like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) played in addressing these most complex of dilemmas. The work performed by both the IMF and the World Bank in mitigating the disastrous effects of the global financial crisis is presented as a prime example of the efficacy of international organisations, as is the authoritative Report issued by the IPCC in response to mounting evidence in support of climate change as a demonstrable scientific phenomenon. As Yi-chong and Weller state unequivocally, "globalisation could not have taken place without the desire of states to pursue cooperation; neither could it have happened without IOs acting as effective facilitators of that cooperation" (2010), because communication on the international scale often requires an objective third-party for purposes of negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution.

On December 12 of 2015, 195 countries made history by committing to the first truly global international climate change agreement (Paris Agreement, 2015). This agreement took place in Paris and was adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The outcome of the Paris Conference on Climate Change was described as “revolutionary” (Venezuela) “marvelous act” (China) and as “a tremendous collective achievement” (European Union) that introduced a “new era of global climate governance” (Egypt) while “restoring the global community’s faith of accomplishing things multilaterally” (USA) (Paris Agreement, 2015).