Paris, Marrakech and all of us
The battle against climate change needs to be fought on many levels, Damon Matthews and Peter Stoett say.
Last Friday, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change came into “force,” and Monday, the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change begins in Marrakech, Morocco. There will no doubt be much flexing of self-congratulatory muscles in Morocco as the Paris Agreement’s implementation is celebrated.
However, the Paris agreement is an expression of intent more than anything else. Rather than herald it as a solution to the climate change problem, it should be recognized as another step in a journey that involves international diplomacy, community development and everyday household management.
There are certainly some positive steps forward in the Paris agreement. Unlike the much-maligned Kyoto Protocol, it clarifies the obligation of all countries, including China, India and the United States, to make serious reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.
The overall goal is sound: achieving net-zero emissions within the second half of this century, with the aim of limiting global temperature increases to between 1.5 and 2°C. Climate change presents grave threats to the biosphere and human welfare, some of which have already begun to manifest, and the Paris agreement is a stark repudiation of the tireless efforts of the climate denial movement.
Paris is also a resounding call for innovative technology policy and the need to develop new ways of producing energy, growing food and managing consumption and waste.
And it is a positive step toward acknowledging what is referred to as climate justice. Many of those most affected by climate change are also the most vulnerable and least privileged members of our global society, including indigenous peoples, people living in overcrowded, under-serviced communities or small island states facing an existential threat as sea levels continue to rise. They have historically contributed the least carbon and other greenhouse-gas emissions. The agreement calls for compensation through the funding of climate adaptation measures, though how this will be realized and distributed remains hazy.
The Paris agreement does not, however, provide a solid blueprint for moving ahead. Paris “requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through ‘nationally determined contributions’ and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. This includes requirements that all Parties report regularly on their emissions and on their implementation efforts.” It does not provide a reliable means of contesting governmental claims that may be suspicious, or in conflict with observed climate warming. It does not provide a framework for punishing those who either engage in fraud or otherwise free-ride the system.
Of course, national governments need to play a key role here. While efforts to streamline the policy approach from Ottawa are contentious, there are still opportunities for principled stands, such as opposing the expansion of fossil fuel energy infrastructure, or decreasing oil and gas subsidies. Sadly, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction, if the government’s support for a liquefied natural gas plant in B.C. is any indication.
No doubt, the unprecedented level of complexity attending the climate debates is intimidating. How we manage this complexity will play a large role in determining the health of future generations of humans and non-human life forms on Earth. Indeed, climate change mitigation is not something that can be “managed” in any conventional sense of that word: decentralized decisions taken by millions of actors will combine to form the totality of action or lack of action.
Ultimately, the Paris agreement reflects near universal scientific consensus, urgent levels of concern and the recognition that climate change is part of the broader issue of environmental justice. Some progress may be made in Morocco toward giving it more substance. But what we do with it is up to us — as policy makers, as voting citizens, as consumers and as people responsible for our day-to-day lives.