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Paris Agreement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Cara A. Horowitz
Cara A. Horowitz*
Affiliation:
Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, UCLA School of Law
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Extract

The Paris Agreement sets forth a new international legal regime aimed at strengthening the global response to climate change. It was adopted in December 2015 at the annual gathering of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement sits within and implements the Convention.

Information

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 740 - 755
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2016 

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Footnotes

*

The author participated in the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, at which the Paris Agreement was finalized, as a credentialed observer delegate. This analysis contains her personal views, not those of any institution with which she is affiliated.

References

Endnotes

1 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, May 9, 1992, S. Treaty Doc No. 102–38 (1992), 1771 U.N.T.S. 107 [hereinafter UNFCCC].

2 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 11, 1997, 2303 U.N.T.S. 162.

3 UNFCCC, supra note 1, art. 2.

4 Id. art. 3.

5 Id. art. 3.

6 Copenhagen Accord (Dec 19, 2009), in Report of the Conference of the Parties [[hereinafter COP Report and session number] on its Fifteenth Session, Decision 2/CP.15, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2009/11/Add.1 (Mar. 30, 2010).

7 Establishment of an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, Decision 1/CP.17 (Dec. 11, 2011), in COP Report No. 17, Addendum, at 2, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2011/9/Add.1 (March 15, 2012).

8 Draft Agreement and Draft Decision on Workstreams 1 and 2 of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, U.N. Doc. FCCC/ADP/2015/11/InformalNote (Nov. 10, 2015).

9 Jean Chemnick, World Agrees to Historic Climate Deal, Energy & Environment (Dec. 12, 2015). As recounted in this press report and others, the United States reportedly insisted on replacing the “shall” with a “should” in the phrase “developed country parties shall continue taking the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets,” in Article 4.

10 A. Cook, Artist Brings Fragments of Greenland Glaciers to Paris Climate Talks, Architect (Dec. 16, 2015), available at http://www.architectmagazine.com/design/artist-brings-fragments-of-greenland-glaciers-to-paris-climate-talks_o.

11 Adoption of the Paris Agreement, Decision 1/CP.21, in COP Report No. 21, Addendum, at 2, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1 (Jan. 29, 2016).

12 Paris Agreement (Dec. 13, 2015), in UNFCCC, COP Report No. 21, Addenum, at 21, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add, 1 (Jan. 29, 2016) [hereinafter Paris Agreement].

13 Id. art. 4.

14 These pledges are called “intended nationally determined contributions,” or INDCs. They may be found at the INDC portal maintained by the UNFCCC Secretariat. INDCs as Communicated by parties, INDC, http://www4.unfccc.int/submissions/indc/Submission%20Pages/submissions.aspx (last visited Aug. 15, 2016).

15 Paris Agreement, supra note 12, art. 13.

16 Id. art. 14.

17 Id. art. 15.

18 Id. art. 21. In the United States, the administration of President Obama takes the position that the Paris Agreement is a presidential executive agreement implementing the Convention and need not be ratified by the Senate.

19 Alison Doyle and Barbara Lewis, With Landmark Climate Accord, World Marks Turn from Fossil Fuels, Reuters (Dec. 13, 2015), http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-summit-idUSKBN0TV04L20151213.

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the United Nations Treaty Collection website (visited August 15, 2016), https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVII-7-d&chapter=27&clang=_en.