The Power of Policy: Reinforcing the Paris Trajectory
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12369 |
| Date | 01 September 2016 |
| Author | Christiana Figueres |
| Published date | 01 September 2016 |
The Power of Policy: Reinforcing the Paris
Trajectory
Christiana Figueres
Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(2010–2016)
Abstract
The Paris Agreement is a critical global response that enables a transition toward human and planetary wellbeing. It articulates
a new trajectory toward a low-carbon economic system. It encompasses all countries, in the global North and South, and
engages public and private sectors at local and global levels. Every country has stepped up to contribute to addressing the
challenge of climate change. Governments, civil society, businesses, investors, academics expressed commitment to tackling
climate change not as an end in itself, but as a means to a resilient society, to sustainable development and to more fulfilling
and enriching lifestyles and livelihoods.
Compared to the many challenges of the twentieth century,
the challenges of today have grown exponentially, not only
because the world is increasingly interconnected but
because the world is increasingly interdependent. Scientists
recognize that we have entered a new geological era called
the Anthropocene. This era is characterized by the fact that
humans are changing the very nature of nature itself. Right
now our actions are determining the evolution of the physi-
cal planet. For the first time in history, the impact of
national actions and policies goes far beyond national
boundaries. It has planetary repercussions.
The Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 at the
21st Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Con-
vention on Climate Change recognizes this interconnected-
ness and interdependence. In Paris, 195 governments
unanimously agreed to limit a global temperature rise to
‘well below 2 °C’and set an aspirational goal of maintaining
temperature under 1.5 °C. They operationalized it by stating
that countries aim to peak their emissions as soon as possi-
ble and to reach global net-zero emissions after 2050. To
achieve these goals, we must set a new trajectory for the
global economy based on a shift of policy.
The Paris Agreement is a key critical global response that
enables a transition toward human and planetary wellbeing.
It encompasses all countries, in the global North and South,
and engages public and private sectors at local and global
levels. Every country has stepped up to contribute to meet-
ing this challenge.
This universal participation is critical because the chal-
lenges we face today can only be quantified in billions and
can only be solved collectively. One billion people have no
access to clean water. One billion people do not have suffi-
cient food. 1.3 billion people do not have access to electric-
ity. Unless we reverse climate change, those numbers will
rise dramatically, as will the social and economic problems
that extreme inequality brings.
Along with challenges to the material wellbeing of so
many, climate change poses an ethical dilemma that stems
from the vast physical, social, and even temporal distances
between those who contribute to the problem and those
who bear the consequences.
We therefore have two options. One, we continue with
twentieth century high-carbon technology and solutions
that exacerbate the problem and offer little or no resilience
to the impacts already locked into the climate system. Or
two, we pay tribute to the development and benefits we
have received from fossil fuels, but recognize that those
technologies are no longer fit for purpose. Then we develop
the necessary low-carbon technology and resilient infrastruc-
ture. In other words, we tackle climate change not as an
end in itself, but as a means to a resilient society, to sustain-
able development and to more fulfilling and enriching life-
styles and livelihoods.
Fortunately in 2015, the world finally gathered, first at the
UN headquarters in New York and then at the UN climate
conference in Paris, and made a definitive choice between
these two paths. In New York, governments adopted the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in the French
capital, the Paris Agreement on climate change. The SDGs
and the Paris Agreement are the two pillars of the global
policy framework for the emerging social contract of the
21st century. Collectively, they seek to eradicate poverty,
enable people-centered development and decouple green-
house gas emissions from economic and social growth.
The SDGs are an aspirational vision of the society we
want to live in. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding
agreement with great potential to decarbonize society. This
is the first time in history that we have been able to rise to
©2016 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Global Policy (2016) 7:3 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12369
Global Policy Volume 7 . Issue 3 . September 2016
448
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