What's Next After 'Paris Agreement' Enters Into Force? Coal Expected To Exit Environmental System

The green day has been celebrated in advance in Paris France after the Paris Agreement has entered into force last Friday, November 4, 2016.

After almost a year, the Paris Agreement has already been commenced after it was adopted last year, December 12, 2015. As a form of celebration, the Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe has been lit with green--the color representing the environmental sector.

The Paris Agreement is focused on achieving the long-term goal of 1.5 degrees celsius. This target is an ambitious target because it aims to have a temperature increase of less than the pre-industrial era. From the scientific predictions of 2.0 degree celsius increase in temperature, this agreement collates the effort of the members of the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the potential effects of Climate Change.

What are the next steps?

A stronger force towards the complete elimination of the effects of climate change is on the way. Member countries of the UNFCCC are required to submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to be able to identify the emissions that they will contribute to the whole world, and to know the amount of pledges that they should give. As part of the agreement, the INDCs to be submitted to the Ad Hoc on Paris Agreement (APA) will have to be reviewed and updated every five years.

Further, the entry into force of the Paris Agreement does not ensure that all member countries will be able to receive the benefits in the form of capacity building, technology transfer, and finance until the member country finally ratifies the said agreement.

It requires big government cooperation

It is a silver bullet to mitigate the effects of climate change but the negotiations are only available to countries which have exerted effort in the ratification of the Paris Agreement. Therefore, it requires the government of the member states to make specific actions to address climate change. This is to countercheck that they are not just dependent on the international aids to be provided by the agreement.

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Climate change