Momentum for Climate Action Continues Beyond Paris

Last Friday, the UN climate negotiations (COP 22) completed in Marrakech, Morroco.  What began November 7 as an optimistic pick up where we left off, one year after the Paris Agreement, became somber but resilient when the United States election results left delegates from all roles and corners of the world wondering where to move forward from here.  

The world came together in Paris to take collective action against the climate crisis.  The Paris Agreement boldly calls for a peaking and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to limit global average temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, with an aim to 1.5 degrees.  The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to report their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), for developed countries to mobilize $100 billion for clean energy finance, and stipulates a common transparency framework critical for building trust among the nearly 200 countries joining the international agreement for development of review and increased ambition, technology transfer, and capacity building.  

The Paris Agreement entered into force just weeks before the 22nd Conference of the Parties, an event that legally binds ratifying governments to its terms.   President Obama ratified Paris by Executive Agreement at a signing ceremony earlier this year on Earth Day, based on the regulatory authority of the Executive Branch and the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the overarching treaty ratified by a two-thirds vote of the Senate during the 1980’s.  

For the first time, the United States was on track to meeting its fair share towards solving the climate crisis.  President Obama introduced an NDC of reducing 26-28% below 2005 emission levels by 2025, and the Congress approved a modest initial contribution to the Green Climate Fund on a bipartisan vote.  Collectively, non-governmental trackers estimate the aggregate effect of NDCs limit warming to as little as 2.6 degrees – still above the threshold for averting disruptive weather patterns and sea level rise, but the Agreement built in key moments for raising ambition in the coming years.  

What didn’t change last Tuesday, November 8, is that no individual country or leader has the power to derail this momentum.  This is more than just words in a 15-page agreement.  This is more than 50 nations already committed to going to 100 percent clean energy.  This is nearly a dozen U.S. states and ten cities party to the “Under 2 MOU” committed to 80 percent emission reductions by 2050, and President Obama releasing a bold mid-century strategy outlining how the United States can achieve a just transition to 80% reductions by 2050.  This is the Parties to the Paris Agreement unanimously agreeing to move forward with developing detailed rules for implementing the Agreement by 2018, in time for the “Facilitated Dialogue,” a moment for detailed reflection on the adequacy of contributions to set the stage for new momentum by 2020.  

Even though President Obama’s historic Clean Power Plan is stalled in the courts and may face roll-back in the next Administration, the electric sector is rapidly cleaning up in response to economic realities and the long-term implications of this transition.  The CPP’s 2024 emission reduction goal has already been exceeded – U.S. power plants are emitting 27 percent less than in 2005.  The Sierra Club’s successful Beyond Coal campaign blocked nearly all coal-fired power plants during the Bush Administration, and has mounted legal and grassroots pressure leading to planned retirements for about a third of the remaining plants.

While there is no mistake that a climate-denier heading the EPA transition represents a huge set-back for strengthening our environmental protections, we know that the people will hold our government accountable – through grassroots action, advocacy at the state and local levels, and litigation.  Our landmark environmental laws that require pollution control standards and environmental review of proposed fossil fuel infrastructure are still in tact, and will be vital in this struggle.  While these next four years will be tough, we are part of a movement leading the world forward to a just and equitable clean energy economy.