A milestone accord

The COP21 was held in Paris from November 29 to December 13. The 11th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 11) was also held at the same time. The three Subsidiary bodies also met during the COP21, which were the 43rd sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 43) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 43), and the 12th part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-12). There were great expectations from COP21 and there was already talk of the ‘Paris Outcome’, which would encompass a legally binding climate change agreement, which would be applicable to developed and developing countries and would have ambitious emission reduction commitments. Such an agreement was to be informed by the latest scientific research and also take into account issues of common but differentiated responsibilities (CDR), climate finance etc. If such an outcome were to materialise, the process begun in COP17 in Durban would come to fruition. Since there was such a strong build-up to COP21 at Paris, the conference attracted over 150 Heads of State and Government, who met on November 30. Prince Charles opened the Conference and urged immediate action. To quote him: On an increasingly crowded planet, humanity faces many threats, but none is greater than climate change. It magnifies every hazard and tension of our existence {…} your deliberations over the next two weeks will decide the fate not only of those alive today but also of generations as yet unborn {…} the whole of nature cries out at our mistreatment of her {…} In damaging our climate we become the architects of our own destruction {…} the absurd thing is we know exactly what needs to be done”.

Discussions at COP21

The Paris conference had arrived at last and expectations were high. The Paris conference was also a high profile one having been opened by Prince Charles and world leaders like US President Obama, UK Prime Minister Cameron, Russian President Putin and Indian PM Narendra Modi, in attendance. Some of the biggest private sector companies such as Marks and Spencers, Loreal, Virgin and Unilever were also present. All the world leaders made the right noises and expressed an urgency for a fresh climate agreement. PM Cameron urged everyone to come together rather than making excuses to our children and grandchildren. President Obama described the conference as an act of defiance, in response to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. At the same time, the Indian PM, Narendra Modi made it clear that the larger burden would have to be shouldered by developed countries in view of the historical realities whereby they had contributed to the bulk of the greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the first issues to be discussed at COP21 was the issue of reforestation. Building on the recent global conference on forestry in New York in 2014, members underlined the importance of halting the destruction of forests and afforestation. Prince Charles called for protecting forests and promoting REDD+, so that the 12 million hectares of forest which are destroyed annually, could be saved.

As the negotiations continued, problems arose early in the talks prompting Laurent Fabius, the French Minister and President of COP21, to appeal to members to accelerate the process. While there was some improvement thereafter, some issues continued to stall the talks. These were:

• The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities being insisted on by developing countries led by India and China. There was also a difference of opinion on how the financial and emissions reduction commitments would be differentiated.
• There were differences on the level of ambition: whether to limit the warming to below 2 degrees Celsius or 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• On financial commitments, developing countries wanted a binding commitment from developed countries to support both adaptation and mitigation efforts. They also wanted the promised USD 100 billion to be realised as early as possible.
• On transparency, developed countries wanted a robust framework on monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), as opposed to China, which wanted a non-intrusive mechanism.
• Different views were tabled on whether the commitments would be legally binding. While the EU and Small Island States wanted legally binding commitments, the US was not ready to commit to anything that was legally binding.
• Developing countries were also strongly in favor of support for adaptation as well as the Loss and Damage support.
• In the pre-2020 action, developing countries wanted developed countries to take ambitious actions in the pre-2020 period to demonstrate their commitment to the process.

Even with these differences, it must be said that all countries showed a lot of commitment and accommodation so that the text to be finalised was reduced to about 20 pages within the first week itself. This was indeed an achievement if we remember the 300-page draft in the Copenhagen conference. The main elements on which an agreement was reached in the Paris Conference were:

• Temperature goal: It was agreed that the global average temperature rise would be kept below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with all efforts to be made to keep the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): These were the core of the Paris Agreement. Each country has to prepare NDCs of emission reductions, based on their situations and constraints and submit them periodically. These should be updated every five years, with the targets becoming more ambitious. There would also be a global stock taking exercise every five years to review these NDCs and the progress. The first stock take was set in the year 2023.
• Transparency: There would be transparency in reporting NDCs and in their review with commonly applicable rules for reporting emissions, with some flexibility for developing countries.
• Adaptation: Countries would submit National Adaptation Plans and there would be efforts to enhance adaptive capacity and reduce vulnerability to climate change. Closely related to this was the agreement on loss and damage, whereby vulnerable countries would be protected against the losses due to adverse effects of climate change and extreme weather such as heatwaves and flooding.
• Issues of importance to developing countries: It was agreed that these issues such as financial support by developed countries for adaptation and mitigation efforts of developing countries, technology development and transfer and capacity building would be given due attention.
• The Paris Agreement came into force on November 4, 2016, after it was ratified by at least 55 countries representing at least 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. An interesting aspect of the Paris Agreement was that there were both legally binding elements (such as submitting and review of NDCs) and non-binding elements (the actual targets set in the NDCs).

Conclusion

The Paris Agreement was indeed historic and countries came together as one and demonstrated their commitment to fight global warming. From the doubling of US’s financial support to countries vulnerable to climate change to the diplomatic leadership shown by France and the pro-active role played by world leaders such as President Obama, the Paris Agreement was indeed a feather in the cap of world diplomacy. The French President Hollande called it a ‘historic turning point’ and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called it a ‘resounding success for multilateralism’. Even though the Paris Agreement was an important milestone, much work remained to be done, because the challenges were only getting bigger.

The writer is Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Mass Education Extension and Library Services and Department of Cooperation, Government of West Bengal