The countries within the framework of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, beginning the year 2020 is generally referred to as ?The Paris Agreement?. The content within the agreement was agreed upon by representatives of 196 state parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, Paris, France, and adopted this as a goal on 12 December 2015.   Until recently approximately 190 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement and the negotiation is expected to bring all nations to a consensus.  The longer term goal of the Paris Agreement is to actively monitor and control the global average temperature increase well below 2 ?C and this is expected to reduce the risks and effects of climate change.

But this is a commitment that each country should work towards and under the Paris Agreement, every country shall carve out a plan, and continuously monitor and regularly report on the contribution that it undertakes to make in order to alleviate global warming.  But this is easier said than done since there is no protocol yet to force a country to set a specific metric with an assumption that every such target would exceed the previously set targets.  This agreement is not without challenges since withdrawal from the agreement is very much possible leading to derailment of the entire effort.  In such cases there is no penalty for the countries withdrawing from such agreements.   

Generally in Europe there is more buy-in to the agreement compared to the rest of the world.  The Environment Minister of France, Mr.Nicolas Hulot, made an announcement to curb all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 leading to a proactive step towards maintaining the sanctity of the agreement.  In addition France would also stop using coal for producing energy post 2022 leading to further reduction in the use of fossil fuels.   This is closely followed by Norway that plans a ban on petrol and diesel cars by 2025, a decision that would certainly motivate other nations to follow this great example.  

The steps taken by European nations should be seen in the light of the Paris agreement as the right step for all nations.   The Paris agreement is not a mere theoretical framework but more a practical step towards sustainable ecology.  This is perhaps the most important step that mankind has ever taken in bringing all nations together on a topic where differences exist.   These differences are primarily due to the existing business models that are supporting the economy of all nations in general.   There has to be a middle path somewhere that would make sense from the perspective of economy and sustainable ecology.  This is where the environmental law helps and the metrics that leads to the realization of goals in Paris agreement should be identified within nations? environmental law books. All countries should implement / amend their environmental laws to include the metrics outlined in Paris agreement.  Else, these agreements are mere handshakes and paper work that does not lead to any practical solution.

Image 1:  http://unfoundationblog.org/paris-climate-agreement-101-no-jargon-just-facts/

Image 2: http://euanmearns.com/the-paris-climate-agreement-promises-promises/