Bio

1. Paris Agreement under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
By Advocate Hazoor Ali Khan
hazoorjaankp@gmail.com
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2. Background
Finally the world stands united against the central
environmental challenge of our time, committed to
cutting the carbon pollution that’s driving climate
change.
The Paris deal is the world's first comprehensive climate
agreement.
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3. Introduction
 In Paris on December 12, 2015, countries adopted an
international agreement to address climate change that
requires deeper emissions reduction commitments from all
countries—developed and developing.
 Countries responsible for 97 percent of global emissions
submitted their climate commitments prior to the
conference.
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4. PARIS AGREEMENT: BUILDING UPON A
HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENTS
 The United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), formed in 1992 by 196
parties, set the ultimate objective to “stabilize
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a
level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the climate system.”
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5. HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENTS
 In 2009, the Copenhagen climate change conference
produced the Copenhagen Accord. This Accord was
expanded and formally adopted in 2010 as the Cancun
Agreements where dozens of countries—committed to
reducing their emissions by 2020.
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6. HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL
AGREEMENTS
Countries also agreed to a new set of mechanisms to
help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt
to climate change, as well as a new system to track
countries’ progress on their commitments.
In 2011, climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa set
the end of 2015 as the deadline for a new international
agreement “applicable to all.” The Paris Agreement
has fulfilled this mandate to establish a post 2020
agreement.
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7. Paris Agreement
 Drafted
 30 November – 12
December 2015 in Le
Bourget, France
 Signed
 22 April 2016
 Effective
 4 November 2016
• Condition
• Ratification and accession by
55 UNFCCC parties, accounting
for 55% of global greenhouse
gas emissions
• Signatories
• 195
• Parties
• 185
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8. Aims
 The aim of the agreement is to decrease global warming
described in its Article 2;
 (a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature
to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue
efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-
industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly
reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;
 (b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of
climate change and foster climate resilience and low
greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that
does not threaten food production;
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9. Nationally determined
contributions
 Contributions each individual country should make to
achieve the worldwide goal are determined by all countries
individually and are called nationally determined
contributions (NDCs).
 Article 3 requires them to be "ambitious", "represent a
progression over time" and set "with the view to achieving
the purpose of this Agreement". The contributions should
be reported every five years.
 Each further ambition should be more ambitious than the
previous one, known as the principle of 'progression'.
 Not obligatory
 Mutual cooperation and sustainable development
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10. Entry
 The Paris Agreement was open for signature by states
and regional economic integration organizations that
are parties to the UNFCCC (the Convention) from 22
April 2016 to 21 April 2017 at the UN Headquarters in
New York.
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11. Withdrawal from Agreement
 Article 28 of the agreement enables parties to withdraw
from the agreement after sending a withdrawal notification
to the depositary, Withdrawal is effective one year after the
depositary is notified.
 On August 4, 2017, the Trump administration delivered an
official notice to the United Nations that the U.S. intends
to withdraw from the Paris Agreement as soon as it is
legally eligible to do so.The formal notice of withdrawal
cannot be submitted until the agreement is in force for 3
years for the US, in 2019. In accordance with Article 28, as
the agreement entered into force in the United States on 4
November 2016, the earliest possible effective withdrawal
date for the United States is 4 November 2019.
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12. Criticism
 A pair of studies in ”Nature” have said that, as of 2017,
none of the major industrialized nations were
implementing the policies they had envisioned and
have not met their pledged emission reduction targets.
 Raised in temperature
 'no action, just promises
 Lack of binding enforcement mechanism ( who will
compel the powerful state to abide by)
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13. Future Contribution of some
countries
 In July 2017 French Environment Minister Nicolas
Hulot announced a plan to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles in
France by 2040 as part of the Paris Agreement. Hulot also stated
that France would no longer use coal to produce electricity after
2022 and that up to €4 billion will be invested in boosting energy
efficiency.
 To reach the agreement's emission targets, Norway will ban the
sale of petrol- and diesel-powered cars by 2025; the Netherlands
will do the same by 2030. Electric trains running on the Dutch
national rail network are already entirely powered by wind
energy. The House of Representatives of the Netherlands passed
a bill in June 2018 mandating that by 2050 the Netherlands will
cut its 1990 greenhouse-gas emissions level by 95%—exceeding
the Paris Agreement goals.
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14. Conclusion
 While the Paris Agreement does not “solve” climate
change, it is a critical inflection point. It brings us
much closer to a safer climate trajectory and creates an
ambitious path forward for decades to come.
Countries have put forth an agreement that helps
strengthen national action by ensuring that the
current commitments are the floor—not the ceiling—
of ambition. The agreement will also help spur greater
action by cities, states, provinces, companies, and
financial institutions. The Paris Agreement has
created a virtuous cycle of increased ambition over
time.
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15. Thank you
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