Introduction. Major sources of international climate change law include the Paris Agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the decisions made by the UNFCCC in implementing these treaties.
The Kyoto Protocol required only developed countries to reduce emissions, while the Paris Agreement recognized that climate change is a shared problem and called on all countries to set emissions targets.
The Paris Agreement speaks of the vision of fully realizing technology development and transfer for both improving resilience to climate change and reducing GHG emissions. It establishes a technology framework to provide overarching guidance to the well-functioning Technology Mechanism.
The Paris Agreement's central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Although climate change action needs to be massively increased to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, the years since its entry into force have already sparked low-carbon solutions and new markets. More and more countries, regions, cities and companies are establishing carbon neutrality targets.
Current climate plans still put the world on track for around 2.6C to 2.8C of warming by 2100, ing to the UN. But this could drop to 1.9C if all net zero pledges were achieved, meaning countries need to put in place more policies to achieve their goals.
Today, 195 Parties (194 States plus the European Union) have joined the Paris Agreement. The Agreement includes commitments from all countries to reduce their emissions and work together to adapt to the impacts of climate change, and calls on countries to strengthen their commitments over time.
How do I become a climate activist? 1. Educate yourself on climate change 2. Join a climate activism project 3. Join a climate action group 4. Talk to politicians Collective action leads to big changes Big changes start with lots of little actions, and anyone who takes action, no matter how small, is an activist.
By banning new production and use of CFCs, the Montreal Protocol eliminated a significant contributor to climate change, avoiding a potential additional global temperature increase of 0.5 to 1 degree Fahrenheit by 2100.
The Paris Agreement was the first legally-binding global treaty on climate change. It was agreed in 2015 and was implemented from 2016. It sets a long-term temperature target of keeping global warming 'well-below' 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and 'pursuing efforts' to keep it below 1.5°C.