Fall Faculty Speaker Series: Apres Paris: Implementing the New Agreement While Instigating a Multilateral Climate Change “Swoop”

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Fall Faculty Speaker Series presents:

Après Paris: Implementing the New Agreement While Instigating a Multilateral Climate Change "Swoop"

by Professor Bach

Light refreshments will be served.

Presentation details:

When the Paris Agreement was gaveled into being on December 12, 2015, everyone in the room anticipated it coming into force in 2020, when the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period ends.  While the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had been ratified in only two years, its Kyoto Protocol took a full eight years to move from adoption in 1997 to entry into force in 2005.  The fact that the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and will enter into force only 11 months later has both surprised and inspired.  Along with the September announcement of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s new market-based standards to reduce airline emissions, and the October agreement on the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out HFCs, this trifecta of climate change agreements has positioned the world community to finally take a big step forward on climate change mitigation and adaptation.  

The Paris Agreement’s role is clear:  move from this “swoop” of political will to putting the new treaty language into action.  As COP22 kicks off on November 7, the task at hand is to convert pledges of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) on mitigation, adaptation, finance, capacity building, and technology transfer into concrete implementation steps. This talk will outline the key next steps while placing them in the context of multilateral action on climate change.