The Paris Agreement [Hereinafter referred to as the ‘Agreement’] lays down a collective objective and creates a legal obligation under Article 2 [1] for all the state parties to prevent the global average temperature in reaching 2°C above historical temperatures[2]. This target has been set to stabilize the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent the dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system[3]. The agreement also covers the equity principle in a pragmatic way which leads to collaborative efforts necessary to protect the climate and deliver climate justice to the people around the globe[4]. In other words, it is not only protecting the most vulnerable states but also strives to save states that have the least contribution and suffer the most from the adverse effects of climate change[5].
The Agreement creates a legal obligation on the states either individually or collectively. The agreement recognizes that states have common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities [hereinafter “CBDR-RC”] which depends upon their respective circumstances and unique circumstances internationally[6]. According to Article 6[7], each country must have a holistic plan and regularly report the contribution it undertakes to mitigate global warming[8]. It is mandatory for each country to set a specific emission target that must go beyond previously set targets by a specific date[9].
After having learned from the limitations faced by the Kyoto agreement, the CBDR-RC principle in the Agreement ensures that every individual state must have ‘equitable’ access to green energy and sustainable development. The Agreement recognizes the disparity in resource availability among various countries which has a direct correlation with climate change mitigation action and techniques that each country could use to combat climate change. It does this by considering the level of development and specific needs of particularly vulnerable countries. The industrialized countries that have utilized fossil fuels for the carbon driven economic development will have to facilitate technology transfers and generally help them adapt to a low carbon economy[10] to combat climate change[11].
The principles of CBDR-RC and equity played a fundamental role in designing of the Agreement and are essential for the achievement and need of having a transparent system in decision making and liability of decisions. To maintain climate justice, Article 4 of the Agreement has adopted certain measures of commitment for all the states which have to be checked by the mechanism of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to accomplish a long-term goal[12]. Explicit and consistent updates on climate actions with the help of international and domestic frameworks are the bedrock of the Agreement which empowers the citizens to question their governments on the efforts to mitigate climate change[13]. For example, states like the United Kingdom have passed legislations to make its emission-reduction targets and budgets legally binding domestically. It has thus bound itself to an obligation it owes to no-one but themselves. The state collective is capable of acting jointly to fulfill its obligations through its annual conferences under the Agreement. It is not a “super-state” but operates through the “concurrent action” of states[14].
ROLE OF CBDR-RC FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:
Developing countries like India and China are some of the largest polluters in the world which need to meet the needs of economic development. Therefore, both developed and developing countries use platforms like UNFCCC to negotiate for climate control actions. For countries like India, the most substantial gain has been the recognition in the Agreement that developing and developed countries have different levels of obligations and responsibilities to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing down global temperature rise[15]. This has helped the developing nations to negotiate their demand for having ‘space to develop’ and at the same time commit to increase the use of clean energy and clean technology to comply with the essence of CBDR-RC principle. Fossil fuels attract the developing countries since they still are the cheapest source of energy, thereby resulting in continuous degradation of the environment.
Though the enactment of the Agreement demands for lowering down the use of fossil fuels through the ‘NDCs’ and the ‘2°C target’, it shifts the great burden of discovering clean energy resources for huge demands and also requires the developed countries to facilitate the technologies and finance to the developing nations. It provides for developing countries to utilise the remaining carbon space to meet the great demands of economic development with a simultaneous approach to shift towards clean energy. The industrially developed nations [16]should partner with advanced developing nations to minimize the current and future carbon emissions and to protect the LDCs and SIDS with an approach towards the social and economic growth of all[17].
The principles of equity and CBDR‐RC are not about sharing failure – they are about sharing responsibility and sharing the benefits of the transition to low carbon, climate-resilient development. These principles ensure that the Convention addresses the needs of all parties regardless of their state of development[18]. UNFCCC has a vast knowledge of the CBDR-RC principle in context of climate change mitigation but it still has to utilize the exact potential of the principle to support climate justice through the Agreement[19].
References:
1. Article 2, The Paris Agreement (2015) .
2. Zahar, Alexander, Collective Obligation in the Paris Agreement Pp. 10 (September 6, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3245139 .
3. ibid.
4. Bhardwaj, Manuj. 2018. The Role And Relationship Of Climate Justice And Common But Differentiated Responsibilities & Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) Principle In The International Climate Change Legal Framework.
5. Sébastien Duyck, The Paris Climate Agreement and the Protection of Human Rights in a Changing Climate, Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Volume 26, 2015, Pages 3–45, https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/yvx011.
6. Article 2.2, The Paris Agreement (2015).
7. Article 6, The Paris Agreement (2015).
8. Robert Stavinsand Robert Stowe, The Paris Agreement and Beyond: International Climate Change Policy Post-2020. Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, 2016. Robert Stavinsand Robert Stowe, The Paris Agreement and Beyond: International Climate Change Policy Post-2020. Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, 2016.
9. “Paris Climate Accord Marks Shift Toward Low-Carbon Economy”. 2015. The Globe And Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/optimism-in-paris-as-final-draft-of-global-climate-deal-tabled/article27739122/.
10. “#COP21: The Paris Agreement In Four Key Points”. 2016. La France En Inde / France In India. https://in.ambafrance.org/COP21-The-Paris-agreement-in-four-key-points.
11. Young, Oran. 2016. The Paris Agreement: Destined To Succeed Or Doomed To Fail? Politics And Governance, Pages 124-132, 10.17645/pag.v4i3.635
12. Article 4 para 2, The Paris Agreement (2015).
13. Winning, Matthew, Steve Pye, and James Glynn. 2019. “Nationally Determined Contributions Under The Paris Agreement And The Costs Of Delayed Action”. Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14693062.2019.1615858?journalCode=tcpo20.
14. Zahar, Alexander, Collective Obligation in the Paris Agreement (September 6, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3245139 . page 10
15. Goswami, Urmi. 2015. “Paris COP21: Recognition Of “Common But Differentiated Responsibilities” Key Achievement Of India”. The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/paris-cop21-recognition-of-common-butdifferentiated-responsibilities-key-achievement-of-india-/articleshow/50173196.cms.
16. Article 9, The Paris Agreement (2015).
17. Bhardwaj, Manuj. 2018. The Role And Relationship Of Climate Justice And Common But Differentiated Responsibilities & Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) Principle In The International Climate Change Legal Framework.
18. “Submission To The ADP By The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice”. 2013. Unfccc.Int. https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2013/smsn/un/306.pdf.
19. Lyster, Rosemary. 2017. “Climate Justice, Adaptation And The Paris Agreement: A Recipe For Disasters?”. Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644016.2017.1287626.
About the author –
This article has been written by Vedika Shetty, 4th year BBA.LLB student at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat.
