Paris Agreement: 5 years later, things are heating up for the climate
Audio 19:30
Laurent Fabius, president of COP21, in 2015. REUTERS / Stephane Mahe
By: Agnès Rougier
25 mins
On December 12, 2015, 195 countries and the European Union signed the Paris Climate Agreement, with the objective of rapidly reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 ° at the end of the century.
5 years later, is France on the right track?
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COP 21 in Paris, long talks end well
For 15 days, in December 2015, France received delegations from 195 countries and the European Union to try to put in place a climate agreement intended to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expired in 2012.
On the Le Bourget site, a few kilometers from Paris, it was 15 days of tough negotiations: the climate was warming up and the host country of the 21st UN climate conference intended to make history with a new agreement. aimed at limiting this warming.
The president of COP21, Laurent Fabius, finally concluded the conference and the signing of the Agreement with a hammer blow from the rostrum: "
It's a small hammer but it can do great things
".
The Paris agreement set for the European Union and the 184 countries that have ratified it, the objective of limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5 ° in 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels.
In France, 5 years later
“
Since 2015, the world and France have changed.
Since 2015, climate concerns are now at the heart of our cities,
”says Barbara Pompili, Minister of Ecology.
In 5 years, France has adopted specific laws and a High Council for the Climate, which analyzes climate policy and issues opinions.
However, in 2019, in France, the first report of the HCC is not good.
French CO2 emissions are falling by around 1% per year.
But to achieve the objectives of -40% of emissions in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2050 (France's commitment) - that is to say a balance between carbon dioxide emissions due to humanity and their withdrawal of the atmosphere (zero net emissions): "
Transport and construction are the most emitting sectors (...)
we should go 2 or 3 times faster
", says its president, Corinne Le Quéré.
At the same time, civil society is getting organized.
The Climate Action Network militates and informs relentlessly, and with the Affair of the Century, NGOs, which have come together, are suing the State for climate inaction.
Climate and civil disobedience
Aware that the process will have to be accelerated if we want to limit global warming, NGOs like Action Non Violente Cop21, have switched to civil disobedience: peaceful occupations of banks, marches for the climate, and even, stalls of portraits of the President Macron in town halls.
Pauline Boyer, from Action Non Violente COP 21: “
we have tried everything, the marches, the petitions… that is not enough, we are not listened to.
So the portrait drops allow us to point the finger at a situation that would go unnoticed if we did not do it
”.
Several dropouts of portraits of President Macron in town halls have been brought to justice.
They risk up to € 75,000 in fines and imprisonment.
But the trials, still ongoing, offer them a media platform.
The Convention is concerned
In 2019, after the Carbon Tax fiasco which had pushed the “Yellow Vests” into the street, the Macron government set up the Citizen's Climate Convention: 150 citizens drawn by lot will have the mandate to define a series of measures making it possible to achieve a reduction of at least 40% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, in a spirit of social justice.
After the submission of 149 proposals to President Macron in June 2020, he undertook to transmit 146 “without filter”, to Parliament and to the administration.
Since then, the members of the Convention have seen their measures diluted in politics during the health crisis.
To the question: Have you been involved in the reflection on the next climate law?
Sylvain Burquier, member of the CCC admits: “
It is a trap to be associated, because you cannot negotiate.
The “without filter” is very filtered, it is a perverse operation
”.
Move forward together ... stronger and faster
On November 19, 2020, following an appeal to the Council of State, of the municipality of Grande Synthe (North), which considers itself threatened by the rise of the sea and asks for protective measures, the highest court gave 3 months for the government to demonstrate that it is taking action to bend the emissions curve towards the objectives of -40% by 2030.
But to those who say that the Macron government is not doing enough for the climate, Barbara Pompili replies: “
I tell them that the more we advance together, the better, and that each in his place must move forward.
I am the first to never be satisfied with what we are doing, because we have to go even faster
”.
Links
:
The High Council for the Climate
Ministry of Ecological Transition
UNFCCC / UN
NGOs and movements:
The Affair of the Century
Our business to all
Non-Violent Action COP21
Alternatiba
Climate Action Network
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