While adapting to climate change is costly, there is also evidence that it can be good for the economy. Between 2005 and 2017, 41 countries increased their gross domestic product while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, according to a recent analysis by the World Resources Institute think tank. «Without Congress limiting progress, the next president could undo much of what Biden has done, just as Biden is undoing what Trump has done, and Trump has undone much of what Obama has done,» Gerrard said. «Without explicit action by Congress, we are very vulnerable to this kind of back and forth that destroys the momentum needed for the industry to operate at the uninterrupted and frantic pace that is needed. Currently, the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats; In the Senate, Republicans hold 50 seats, Democrats 48 and two are held by independents. In the current composition of Congress, the only measures that could withstand possible future efforts to repeal them are those that Biden can achieve through bilateral cooperation with Congress. The Paris package consisted of three main components: the Paris Agreement, an international treaty that sets common goals, commitments and expectations; «Nationally Determined Contributions» (NDCs) planned by more than 180 countries; and the thousands of contributions offered by businesses, states, cities and civil society organizations. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush joined 107 other heads of state at the Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil, to adopt a series of environmental agreements, including the UNFCCC framework, which is still in effect today. The international treaty aims to prevent dangerous human interference in Earth`s climate systems in the long term. The Pact does not set greenhouse gas emission limits for individual countries and does not include enforcement mechanisms, but provides a framework for international negotiations on future agreements or protocols to set binding emission targets. Participating countries meet annually at a Conference of the Parties (COP) to assess their progress and continue discussions on how best to tackle climate change. The objective of the agreement is to reduce global warming as described in Article 2 and to «improve» the implementation of the UNFCCC by:[11] These transparency and accountability provisions are similar to those of other international agreements.
While the system does not involve financial sanctions, the requirements are aimed at easily tracking each nation`s progress and fostering a sense of global peer pressure, discouraging any hesitation between countries that might consider this. Negotiators of the agreement noted that the INDCs presented at the Paris conference were inadequate and noted «with concern that the estimated aggregate levels of greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 and 2030 resulting from intended nationally determined contributions do not fall into the most cost-effective 2°C scenarios, but instead lead to a projected level of 55 gigatons in 2030.» and further acknowledging «that much greater efforts to reduce emissions will be needed to keep the global average temperature rise below 2°C by reducing emissions to 40 gigatons, or 1.5°C.» [25] [Clarification needed] The Paris Agreement (French: Paris Agreement)[3] is an agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with mitigation, adaptation to greenhouse gas emissions and financing, which was signed in 2016. The wording of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 196 States Parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015. [4] [5] As of February 2020, the 196 members of the UNFCCC had signed the agreement and 189 had acceded to it. [1] Of the seven countries that are not parties to the law, the only major emitters are Iran and Turkey. The authors of the agreement have incorporated a timetable for withdrawal that President Trump must follow – to prevent it from irreparably harming our climate. This will be the implicit message that will be sent tomorrow as nations come together – virtually – to look back at what the Paris Agreement has achieved in its first half decade and, more importantly, to reveal new commitments to further reduce global warming emissions. While analysts say the pact has helped move toward its goal of preventing average global temperatures from rising 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the efforts are also overshadowed by ample evidence that many countries are not delivering on the promises they made in 2015. .