November 2015’s Paris
Climate Summit, COP 21, was led by the UNFCC (United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change), an
international environmental treaty created to stabilise greenhouse gases in the
earth’s atmosphere in order to protect the world’s climate. With over 190
parties, including many from the United Nations and European Union, the
convention has an exceptional influence on international decisions.
Originally negotiated
in 1992, the UNFCC meet annually in COP (Conferences of the Parties) to monitor
and assess signatory parties’ greenhouse gas emissions. What is so important
about COP 21, however, is that it symbolised the first unanimous decision by
influential world leaders to combat climate change: “the Paris pact ratifies an
ongoing renewable energy revolution spreading across the globe.”[i] As the
first official time that world powers acknowledge that renewable energy offers
a much more effective and viable alternative to fossil fuels following pressures
from smaller organisations rather than authorities, it has understandably been
met with high anticipation.
While some nations
have pledged to try and reach 100% renewable energy standards, others are still
agreeing to finding alternative solutions to fossil fuels which makes for
impressive progress. Following from a clear momentum within societies from
which pressure has been put on larger movements, the agreement suggests that finally
those in power are listening.
The reason for such a
stark turnaround can be partially attributed to the threat of global warming in
recent years becoming paramount, with scientific evidence rendering it
unavoidable. With superpowers such as America and China, who were previously
dismissive of acting to change, coming round to pledge allegiance it has meant
that other countries are now following suit. Obama declared climate change was
at the forefront of his policy in his second term, while the intensity of air
pollution in China has pushed president Xi Jinping to jump on board.[ii]
However, whilst it
seems celebratory progress has been made, only days after agreeing to cutting
carbon emissions at the Paris summit, the British Conservative government
pledged to cut 65% of subsidies to solar panel installing companies in favour
of the, somewhat outdated, nuclear energy.[iii] Which
leads on to the main criticism of COP 21: yes you can get world leaders to
agree to cut carbon emissions, but how are you going to implement the change?
The all too recent Volkswagen
scandal still haunts any potential progress regarding global warming. Dubbed
the ‘diesel dupe’, earlier this year the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
discovered that VW had sold cars with software that could detect when it was
being tested and warp the results it displayed accordingly.[iv] This
meant that the German corporation were cheating customers into buying what they
thought were low emission cars, when in actual fact the cars were producing
over 40 times more nitrogen oxide pollutants than the American limit.
What this shows is
that yes key world leaders are now being pushed into agreements to curb climate
change, with unavoidable proof that we have damaged the earth and something
must give. But this doesn’t mean that everyone will comply. As previously
mentioned, it is one thing to get world leaders to sign an agreement, it is
another to get them to implement it, especially when it serves to lose them
money and allegiances in the short term.
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