Skip to main content

Trust, A Detriment To Fixing Climate Change

 

Trust, A Detriment to Fixing Climate Change

Paris Climate Accord: The Background and Potential Impact of Rejoining

Written by: Winston Lee (high school student intern, June 2021)

Historically, the countries that profited the most out of natural resources are now political and economic powerhouses. Think the United States, China, the European Union, who were able to generate immense amounts of greenhouse gases without considering the consequences. Now that we are living in a generation concerned about the risks of carbon emissions, these nations and other countries formed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to help combat the risks of climate change. While the Paris Agreement centrally focuses on limiting the global temperature increase, it also provides solutions to the less developed countries that cannot afford to build sustainable sources of energy. 

The Paris Agreement established that countries that generate immense amounts of greenhouse gases were to take responsibility by providing money (taking into account the country's economic condition) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). In return, the GCF would utilize the funds towards the construction of sustainable energy sources in less developed countries. While this concept on paper is an excellent way to universally improve the climate change condition, in reality, the situation is entirely different. This is because of one reason: non-binding agreements.

As the resolution stands, the United States has yet to pay for $2 Billion owed towards the GCF. As the country that generates and profited the most from carbon emissions, it was a snub not only to the developed countries but also to all participating countries in the Paris Agreement. Yet no one could stop them. Why? Because providing funds towards the GCF was not a binding agreement. Promises can be broken, laws cannot. In the advent of climate change, countries cooperated together for a purpose transcending their own nation's desires. Yet the country that is supposedly the embodiment of "virtue and freedom" decided to run from their own mistakes. In the world, we live in today, how can countries unite to combat a common enemy when we cannot even trust one another. 

This begins to shed light on the core of the problem. To solve an international problem as large as climate change, we must first work to uphold our agreements, our promises, and our trust; to work towards a brighter future. 

*****

Reviewed by: Abraham Sumalinog


Sources: 

Climate, Paris. “Paris Climate Agreement: Everything You Need to Know.” NRDC, 28 Apr. 2021, www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know. Accessed 22 June 2021.

‌United Nations. Paris Agreement. , 2015.

‌

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30th Green Climate Fund Meeting Notes

 30th Green Climate Fund Meeting Notes 30 th Green Climate Fund Board Meeting 4-7 September 2021 (Virtual meeting)   The GCF's Board Members were expected to approve 13 Funding Proposals equivalent to USD1.2 billion and accredit 4 Accredited Entities (actually for re-accreditation), and also address various policy gaps and governance issues.   1 st Day (4 October 2021) The first day was slow which was spent on discussing procedural matters The co-chair from Mexico (Jose) opened the meeting by welcoming the new Board members and their alternates Discussion on the Technical Sessions held a week before B30 on the Simplified Approval Process (SAP), and Climate Rationale was done without considering the evaluations made by the IEU. The co-chair responded by saying that the independent evaluation of SAP and Climate Rationale are already part of the proposed agenda. Due to some objections from a couple of Board members, the co-chairs agreed to add another agend...
Post a Comment
Read more

Climate and COP Negotiations Lobbying Crisis

 Climate and COP Lobbying Crisis The climate crisis is a pressing concern that must be addressed rapidly and effectively with concrete action. How?  Climate crisis issues can be resolved by reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy sources, transitioning to a Circular Economy, investing in green infrastructure, and adopting holistic strategies that address the underlying causes of climate change. These measures are essential if we are to avoid catastrophic environmental consequences. Furthermore, they create an opportunity for innovation and economic growth by developing and implementing new low-carbon technologies and sustainable business models. It is also essential to build resilience and adaptive capacity in our communities. This means investing in infrastructure that helps people cope with the impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and flooding, among other methods. It also involves developing innovative approaches to reduce em...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Young Views on Climate Change

 My Views on Climate Change Climate Change Street Campaign By Sydney Sohn   Climate change has been a topic of concern for several years now. However, it is 2022, and action must be taken to slow the rate of climate change before it becomes irreversible. If current climate actions such as less transparency and other day-to-day environmental activities we take continue, it can easily and rapidly create a damaged world for future generations. To begin, a core negatively impacting climate action is less transparency. Some examples of non-transparent activities by companies are Amazon, Apple, and Google, as they do not publicly demonstrate support for anti-corruption on their website [1]. We will not be able to win the fight against climate change without being transparent because if countries globally do not put effort into becoming transparent on their climate contributions, we will never leave the "planning" stage [2]. We would not be able to reach the point where it is time t...
Post a Comment
Read more