Paris Agreement: Five years later, three women politicians take stock -
20 Minutes
“The Paris climate agreement is accepted!
".
It was December 12, 2015. Laurent Fabius, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced with force and determination, under the thunder of applause of an excited public, the validation of a historic text: that of the first world agreement on the weather.
After thirteen days of intense negotiations under the French presidency, this 17-page document was presented as "differentiated, fair, sustainable, dynamic, balanced and legally binding".
Five years later, the rate of greenhouse gas emissions has skyrocketed and the planet has experienced its warmest years since 1850.
Broken promises
“What I would say today is… Shit, what!
".
Member of Parliament and co-chair of the environmental group in the National Assembly at the time of the signing of the climate agreement, Cécile Duflot is today divided between "rage and amazement".
“If someone had told me five years ago that we would be where we are today, I would have bet on better than that.
Really, ”she exclaims.
Yes .. we hold our breath ... if the text is up to the emotion and the speeches it will be very strong.
# COP21 "no reprieve"
- Cécile Duflot (@CecileDuflot) December 12, 2015
And for good reason.
While the Paris agreement invited the signatory states to "continue efforts" to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees, the path taken today by many countries, mainly the richest, will not allow to keep this commitment.
"Nothing structural has been done" assures Corinne Lepage, former Minister of the Environment and lawyer for the municipality of Grande-Synthe.
“We are extremely far from the targets.
Today, we are already 1.3 degrees higher at the global level, so the hope of limiting ourselves to 1.5 degrees is very low, ”she adds.
The #AccordDeParis is historic because it sets an inescapable course for the Civil Company to make it an applied and efficient agreement 1/2
- Corinne Lepage (@corinnelepage) December 12, 2015
A weak agreement
France, although the initiator of this major climate commitment, is far from exemplary.
In its annual report on carbon neutrality, published last September, the High Council for the Climate had estimated the climate actions implemented in recent years in France, "not up to the challenges or the objectives" that it gave himself.
“Today, not only is the Paris agreement not being respected, but in addition, even what it provides is insufficient,” says Delphine Batho, Member of Parliament and President of Generation Ecology.
The former Minister of Ecology between 2012 and 2013 is categorical: "this agreement was historic from a diplomatic and political point of view, but not in view of what we know and what the IPCC reports say on the climate ".
Because this is where the shoe pinches.
If the text of the Paris Agreement is indeed binding on the form, it is far from being so on the substance, and its effects are due, in the text, only to "voluntary contributions" on the part of of the signatory states.
Climate inaction brought to justice
Nevertheless, since its signature by 195 countries, a number of legal battles have been initiated on this basis, however shaky it may be.
“We see courts making decisions, pronouncing judgments which are based on the benchmark that the Paris Agreement constitutes.
So all that was not used for nothing ”, judge Delphine Batho.
Universal #AccordDeParis HISTORICAL!
Finally hope!
Proud of France's work # COP21
- Delphine Batho (@delphinebatho) December 12, 2015
This is the case with the “Affair of the Century”, the proceedings of which are still ongoing, or even the historic decision pronounced by the Council of State after an appeal by the municipality of Grande-Synthe against the State.
Attacked for climate inaction, the latter was ordered to justify, within three months, that the trajectory of reducing emissions by 2030 could be respected.
"No luck, because the judges consider that a commitment has been made and that the promises do not engage only those who believe in them" jubilant Corinne Lepage, lawyer for the municipality of Grande-Synthe in this case.
Richer, less exposed
If the governments of the richest countries therefore risk being forced to respect their climate commitments, what about their obligations towards the poorest countries?
“From this point of view, this Paris agreement can be improved.
First on climate adaptation, which must be financed more.
Because we are already out of order.
And above all, it must be done much more in the form of donations than in the form of loans, ”says Cécile Duflot.
Today, only 3% of France's funding for the developing countries most affected by global warming comes in the form of donations, against an average of 35% for all OECD countries. .
In 2009, the countries of the North also pledged to increase assistance to the countries of the South to adapt to the impacts of climate change and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to 100 billion dollars by 2020.
But for now, the account is not there.
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Paris Agreement
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Weather