When 196 nations adopted the momentous Paris climate accord, the United Kingdom prime minister at the time, David Cameron, wrote on Twitter: “Our grandchildren will see we did our duty.”
According to the article, ten years later, what would those grandchildren think? Because the Paris Agreement has started to look like a failure. But that only holds true if you’re fixated on the end goal rather than the journey.
The legally binding treaty aims to limit climate change to “well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts to keep the increase close to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It also specifies that countries should reach a “global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions” as soon as possible.
But carbon emissions continue to grow and, although climate impacts have intensified, anti-climate sentiments are on the rise.
This year, the US – which is responsible for about 24 per cent of all emissions ever pumped into the atmosphere – withdrew from the international treaty for the second time and has now undergone almost a full year of anti-climate policies under the leadership of President Donald Trump.
