Editor's note

Global community has realised that climate change knows no borders and that the impacts of climate change affects all states and people. Many have realised that the climate cannot be fixed without reducing emissions from the bigger states and regions. Thus, presently developed countries account for less than 35% of total emissions (with the falling trends) while developing countries account for 65%.Hence, without major developing countries emitters such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa or Indonesia, the global climate deal would have been impossible.

The European Union has played a key role in brokering a historic global climate deal in Paris, which will be legally binding for the EU states. According to the European Commission, the Paris agreement has become the major multilateral deal of the twenty-first century.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker underlined that “the world was united in the fight against climate change”. That means that the global community is to deliver on promise to hand over to future generations a world that is more stable, the planet is healthier, societies are fairer societies with more prosperous economies.

The Paris agreement will steer the world towards a global clean energy transition. The EU has been the global leader in climate action, and the Paris agreement reflects the EU’s ambition.

The EU’s chief negotiator Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete has kept the EU the central player throughout the negotiations.

EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete reiterated that the agreement had been “a major win for Europe… as the EU had led the efforts in Paris to get an ambitious and legally binding global climate deal”.

The EU’s key objectives: i.e. on the long-term goal, the 5-yearly review cycles and transparency, to name a few, have been included in the new agreement. The “Paris deal” also reconfirms global commitment to continued support to those in need of assistance. Now, he added, the states have to deliver on ambitious promises and the EU will continue to lead in the global low-carbon transition.

See: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6308_en.htm?locale=en

Historic background

The international political response to climate change began at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the ‘Rio Convention’ included the adoption of the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This convention set out a framework for action aimed at stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to avoid “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” The UNFCCC, which entered into force on 21 March 1994, has a near-universal membership of 195 “parties”.

Note: all UNFCCC participants are called “parties” as besides the states there are some international organisations, e.g. EU, which brokeraged the deal on behalf the EU member states, though the latter could participate in COP-21 too.

The main objective of the annual Conferences of Parties (so-called COPs) is to review the Convention’s implementation. The first COP-1 took place in Berlin in 1995 and significant meetings since then have included COP-3, where the Kyoto Protocol was adopted; COP-11 where the Montreal Action Plan was produced; COP-15 in Copenhagen with the unsuccessful efforts for an agreement to succeed Kyoto Protocol; and COP-17 in Durban where the Green Climate Fund was created.

In 2015 COP-21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, successfully achieve (almost legally binding) though universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.

France played a leading international role in holding the seminal conference, and COP-21 was one of the largest international conferences ever held in the country. The conference attracted about 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from about 200 governments, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and global civil society.

Reference: http://www.cop21paris.org/about/cop21

The ambitious and balanced Paris agreement, the first major multilateral deal of the 21^st century, sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C.

The deal is the culmination of years of efforts by the international community to bring about a universal multilateral agreement on climate change. The Paris Agreement sends a clear signal to investors, businesses, and policy-makers that the global transition to clean energy is here to stay and resources have to shift away from polluting fossil fuels.

The Paris climate deal: aims for EU states

The Paris climate change agreement is a bridge between today's economic policies and policies aimed at climate-neutrality structures before the end of the century. In Paris, the global community and state governments agreed on ambition, strong commitments, and solidarity.

Ambition: Governments agreed a long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to aim to limit the increase to 1.5°C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change. The agreement calls for global emissions to peak as soon as possible, recognising that this will take longer for developing countries and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science.

Countries submitted comprehensive national climate action plans to reduce their emissions. However, the sum total of the 185 nationally determined contributions prepared in advance of the Paris conference are not yet enough to keep the world below 2°C by the end of the century. Hence, the agreement traces the way to achieving this target.

Commitment: To achieve the common ambition, world governments agreed to come together every 5 years to set more ambitious targets as required by science. They also accepted to report to each other and the public on how well they are doing to implement their targets, to ensure transparency and oversight (with a global meeting taking place every five years). A robust transparency and accountability system will track progress towards the established long-term goals.

Solidarity: The EU and other developed countries will continue to support climate action to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change impacts in developing countries. Other countries are encouraged to provide or continue to provide such support voluntarily. Continued and enhanced international support for adaptation will be provided to developing countries. Developed countries intend to continue their existing collective goal to mobilise US$ 100 billion per year until 2025 when a new collective goal will be set.

Countries also acknowledge the need to cooperate and enhance the understanding, action and support in different areas such as early warning systems, emergency preparedness and risk insurance dealing with the issue of loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change.

The world is ready to catalyse efforts into climate action even before the Paris agreement enters into force in 2020. A number of major announcements and ground breaking initiatives were presented during the Paris conference.

Conclusion

The Paris conference (COP-21) has been important in a number of vital suggestions for the EU member states, including vital effects for national policies and businesses. New renewable energy initiatives and reducing green house effects are having clear market signals for corporate policies. Thus, a new phase of clean energy revolution has begun with a clear new policy guideline for the Baltic States.