Light comes to Paris late on winter mornings and the streets are nearly empty as I head out in search of a morning newspaper. It’s the day after the ratification of the ‘historic’ legally binding Paris Agreement and ministers and delegations from over 190 nations are already in glorious retreat home from the pomp and circumstance afforded them during the two weeks of negotiations at Le Bourget.
There was never a doubt that COP21 negotiators would deliver a deal which would at first glance appear ambitious enough to at long last acknowledge we’ve dug ourselves into one helluva hole here and its way past time we started collectively pulling together to do something, anything, about it.
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The Christmas Tree rising in the rotunda of Galeries Lafayette makes for a fabulous distraction during the most important global conference ever.
Yes, without doubt, COP21 was a media circus, Yet with all the hype, the crisis preceding the talks and the subsequent quelling of anticipated unprecedented activism, the two weeks of the summit were a mere blip on the screen of life for the everyday Parisian. Despite ongoing heightened security, they continued to flock to Le Village de Noël des Champs-Elysées, to marvel at the Starwars-themed holiday windows at Les Galeries Lafayette, to shop for fine foods at Place de la Madeleine.
The Paris Agreement is “meaningless without requiring rich countries to cut their emissions drastically and provide finance in line with their fair share, and places the extra burden on developing countries.”
Make no mistake about it, however. Not everyone, at least not those who stand on the side of climate justice, is heading home happy this morning.
Representatives from the world’s most vulnerable nations agree that once again international negotiations have sided with the powerful, offering no protection from ‘resource grabbing’ and staving off a legal commitment to fund nations most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
“We, the peasants of the world, will now return to our territories and farms all the more determined to continue our struggle for food sovereignty for all the peoples of the world,” said Antolin Huascar, a peasant leader from Peru. “The future of the planet is in the hands of the people.”
Statements from both Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International highlight the weaknesses of the Agreement.
Via Campesina
"COP21 has come up with an agreement that many worried in advance would offer nothing good for the peoples of the world. There is nothing binding for states, national contributions lead us towards a global warming of over 3°C—and multinationals are the main beneficiaries. It was essentially a media circus."
The three criticisms put forth by Friends of the Earth International hone in on the essence of the Paris Agreement’s shortcomings.
"1) The draft Paris deal states that 2 C is the maximum acceptable global temperature increase, and that countries should pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. This is meaningless without requiring rich countries to cut their emissions drastically and provide finance in line with their fair share, and places the extra burden on developing countries. To avoid runaway climate we need to urgently and drastically cut emissions, not just put it off. 2) Without compensation for irreparable damage, the most vulnerable countries will be left to pick up the pieces and foot the bill for a crisis they didn’t create. 3) Without adequate finance, poor countries will now be expected to foot the bill for a crisis they didn’t cause. The finance exists. The political will does not."
The most important component to guarantee a successful COP was iterated well before the negotiations began, when COP21 President French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius noted a successful COP was predicated on the need for a treaty which did not require the approval of the US Congress.
Accordingly, the Agreement was formatted on a ‘hybrid name and shame model’ with national INDCs remaining voluntary, the only legal component being the requirement of public monitoring, verification and reporting. Somewhat difficult to take without a grain of salt, given how nations have yet to outline how they anticipate meeting their commitments.
“Paris: The End of the Beginning”
ANA was right on in pointing out the significance of the fact this COP was in France, where even the activists took full advantage of the artistic palette of Paris to glaze the city with symbolic creations, like Danish artist Olafur Eliasson’s Place du Pantheon installation showcasing Greenland’s melting icebergs, the Arc de Triomphe roundabout dappled in yellow representing beaming alternative energy, and clever unexpected ‘guerrilla street art’ pulsating like random chords of music through old stoned passages in condemnation of the hypocrisy of the conference.
And of course, as they note, we are in Paris …
A mini-Eiffel Tower has been erected out of upcycled scarlet picnic chairs, and protesters have decorated it with slogans calling for climate justice.
And naturally, there’s the food, and wine.
For informal lunchtime chats at Le Bourget, negotiators can meet over crepes with local cider, or sit down for a several course formule du jour produced by a famed local chef, with ingredients sourced by region.
Organic wine waits in glasses in the cafeteria, to be collected with soft poached eggs on courgette mousse. There’s a stall for raclette and mulled wine in an eco-friendly reusable cup.
As delegates arrive every morning, the scent of fresh baguette wafts down the Champs Elysees – as the central walkway between halls at Le Bourget has come to be known. The two bakers from Paul produce 10,000 loaves a day, and will pose for you to instagram them with their wares.
As Bill McKibben tweeted a few hours ago: “US climate negotiators heading home from @cop21 will land amid record DC temps. We've waited so long to get started, have to go hard now!” And 350’s May Boeve writes: “Paris isn’t the end of the story, but a conclusion of a particular chapter. Now, it’s up to us to strengthen these promises, make sure they are kept, and then accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and towards 100% renewable energy.”
We’re in this for the long haul .. and they ain’t seen nothing yet!
And then there are the scientists weighing in on the agreement with a consensus that this deal cuts back GHG emissions by about ½ of what is needed to ensure we do not surpass a rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
And, as we know by now, we’re dead meat unless we find a way tout de suite to pull that one off.
In a TED talk some months ago, In Paris: The End of the Beginning, Ecoequity’s Tom Athanasiou correctly anticipated that the conclusion of this COP would be characterized by “spin … thick and thin from all sides, and movement organizations will not be entirely innocent … Carefully wrought press releases will be everywhere … And even in the best case, we’re not going to get what we want. The real question is whether we get what we need …”, which, he notes, is:
… a global climate regime that’s both equitable and ambitious; one that promotes just and sustainable development even as it drives emissions rapidly down towards zero. This is a huge ask and we’ll have to push for it hard, and not just in the hallways of global power, but in the corridors of national power as well. And, of course, on the streets.
