- Mansha dixit
Are our desperate efforts to save the earth impactful? It’s a simple question, yet it has a tricky answer. Climate change mitigation is not something whose changes will be visible within a few days or weeks. Moreover, with a large and rapidly growing population, it becomes hard to keep track of environmental changes, considering that almost everyone contributes to its degradation. Keeping this in mind, let us delve deeper into some of the world’s most prominent climate change mitigation acts that were put into action with the hopes of the betterment of our future.
One of the most famous climate mitigation acts was the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol was an international agreement that brought developing countries together to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It was adopted in 1997 and ended in 2012. Data tells us that the original parties reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent, which was well beyond their goal of reducing the emissions by at least 4.7 per cent by the end of 2012. Looking at the statistics, one would think that the Kyoto Protocol was a huge success. However, there is a lot more to it. Reports tell us that the success of merely some minorities masked the failure of this agreement. As we know, this act did not encompass the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the USA. As a result, the progress made under the Kyoto Protocol was diminished by the two country’s high contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. This led to a 40 per cent increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, despite the Kyoto Protocol parties exceeding their targets.
In the following years, after the end of the Kyoto Protocol, a few pacts towards the same issue were signed but did not sustain for long. However, in 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted by the countries in UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). This agreement, too, aimed towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing the rise in global temperatures. A feature in which the authorities of the Paris Agreement took pride in was the transparency of the pact. It was a feature that allowed the results to be reviewed and analysed freely. Well, this feature gave us high hopes for the success of this project.
Nonetheless, it did not ensure 100 per cent efficiency of the implementations. Though the agreement ensures that data of the results are provided regularly, it does not ensure clarity in the reports. The reports of the implementations often lack comparable data, which hinders the transparent review. On the other hand, the environmental effects of this agreement depend primarily on individual nations. A lot of the time, the targets set by the agreement are far too ambitious compared to the country’s implementation capacity. Yet, these ambitions are not even close to what we require to positively impact the environment.
To sum up the analysis, firstly, we can say that the Kyoto Protocol was a pioneering project that undoubtedly made environmental changes for the better. Unfortunately, these changes were relatively insignificant as compared to the contribution in worsening of the environmental ecosystems. The Kyoto Protocol’s progress was mitigated by other countries that were not a part of the agreement. Secondly, though the Paris Agreement did not completely fail, it consisted of many gaps between the targets and the implementations. So, to really make a difference in environmental stability, the parties must enhance their regime’s institutional and environmental effectiveness.
This all may sound quite bleak. But there is a positive side to all of this too. We must remember that these agreements started a chain that will help us reach a better future. These acts may not be perfect, but they do stand for something. They have proved that with small steps, things can get better. Each flaw is kept in mind and can be corrected in future projects. And we hope to see more such pacts being adopted towards the betterment of our society as a whole.
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