Page 27 - Coespu 2018-4

Global efforts are now focussed
on keeping temperatures from
increasing more than two
degrees above that pre-industrial
average, and ideally no more
than 1.5 degrees, as stated in the
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Paris Agreement signed during
COP 21, in 2015. This is a
landmark agreement to combat
climate change and to accelerate
and intensify the actions and
investments needed for a
sustainable low carbon future.
The Paris Agreement builds
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upon the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and – for the first time –
brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change
and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. That goal
may still be possible if the international community pulls together. Indeed, all countries are
currently gathered in Katowice, Poland, under the COP24, for the annual Conference of the
Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC. It is a two weeks meeting where participants struggle to turn
political statements (such as those of the Paris Agreement) into practical measures delivering
results on the ground, a complex task, made even more problematic by the political obstruction
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of the administration of the countries amongst the biggest Green House Gas (GHG) emitters in
the world (either in
absolute numbers and/or
per-capita), such as USA,
Brazil, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait and Russia.
Because of this
shortsighted and selfish
opposition, the

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For more info on the Paris Agreement, see https://unfccc.int/resource/bigpicture/#content‐the‐paris‐agreemen
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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty adopted and implemented
by countries all around the world in 1994 to address the issue of climate change. The 197 countries that ratified the agreement represent
almost universal global involvement. The UNFCCC states that its objectives are to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere
at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” and prevent human damage and interference
with the climate system.
Ratified in 1992, the UNFCCC is the first global treaty addressing climate change that created this organization. It meets yearly to discuss
progress and take bold action. The Kyoto Protocol and more recent Paris Agreement are other landmark treaties that have emerged from these
annual meetings. See https://unfccc.int/ for more info.
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Life on Earth is dependent on an atmospheric "greenhouse" – a layer of gasses, primarily water vapour, in the lower atmosphere that trap
heat from the sun as it's reflected back from the Earth, radiating it back and keeping our planet at a temperature capable of supporting life.
Human activity is currently generating an excess of long‐lived greenhouse gasses that – unlike water vapour – don't dissipate in response to
temperature increases, resulting in a continuing buildup of heat.
Key greenhouse gasses include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide is the best‐known, its excessive concertation
in the atmosphere comes from burning of fossil fuels, while deforestation has reduced the amount of plant life available to turn CO2 into
oxygen. Methane, a more potent but less abundant greenhouse gas, enters the atmosphere from farming – both from animals such as cattle
and arable farming methods including traditional rice paddies – and from fossil fuel exploration and abandoned oil and gas wells.
Chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons – once widely used in industrial applications and home appliances such as refrigerators – were
key greenhouse gasses released during the 20th century, but are now heavily regulated due to their severe impact on the atmosphere, which
includes ozone depletion, as well as trapping heat in the lower atmosphere. Our warming climate is also creating a feedback loop as
greenhouse gasses trapped in Arctic permafrost are released.

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