Thousands of articles, blog posts, and essays are written about global warming every year. You will hardly find new factual data or statistics in the climate change essay sample below – but that’s not what it is here for. Its main task is to demonstrate how a strong analytical paper should be written – from introduction to conclusion. In case you need some analytical writing done for you within a tight timeframe, contact our customer managers with your ‘write my essays‘ request to learn more about how we can help. Or place an order right now!
Challenges of Implementing the Paris Agreement and Controlling Climate Change
Introduction
Within the last two centuries, the world has seen immense technological development and massive shift in the industrial sector. The exponential industrial development that started in the 1800s increased the demand for energy sources. This demand was fulfilled by burning fuel and other natural resources. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere started to increase day by day, causing the entire ecosystem to become more and more dysfunctional.
Violent floods, extreme earthquakes, hot summers, frigid winters are the aftermaths of the ecosystem disruption. It has been researched that a significant temperature rise has been recorded on the polar caps (Turner et al. 2986-3007). As a result, the ice on the polar caps is melting, and the overall sea level in the world increases. Countless small island-like states are on the verge of getting submerged under the water. Furthermore, there is a massive threat to numerous species living in and near the water.
Furthermore, the rise in temperature starts a chain reaction that adds to the disruption of the entire ecosystem. The effects of climate change are not only confined to living organisms but also pose a threat to the low-lying areas all over the world (Fitchett et al. 1-9). This climate change essay attempts to analyze the lack of commitment and the reasons why countries do not follow the guidelines set by the Paris Agreement.
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement is a treaty signed by 196 countries that binds them together to join efforts in keeping global temperature increase less than 2 degrees Celsius or preferably below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The purpose of the meeting was to bring the entire world on one platform and address the most significant challenges humanity has ever faced (Savaresi 16-26). The meeting aimed to make everyone understand the severity of climate change and the magnitude of damage it is causing to the planet’s ecosystem.
A temperature rise of two degrees Celsius might not seem significant, but on a global scale, this can cause horrendous damage to our environment. In the 1890s, the change in the global temperature was negative 0.37 degrees. That changed to a negative 0.30 degree in the 1940s’. In 2016, the change in the global temperature was as high as 0.99 degrees Celsius. A continuous temperature rise of such scale can bring potentially disastrous changes in the environment. The goal of the Paris Agreement was to make every country understand the importance of climate control. All the countries initially agreed to install domestic-level policies to keep the overall carbon emission under control.
Furthermore, developed countries were advised to join efforts and form a fund to help underdeveloped countries cope with their climate action plans. This would have allowed underdeveloped countries to implement new policies to decrease the greenhouse effect. As the nations have submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in 2020 climate action, experts still predict constant global temperature increase till the 2100s (Rogelj et al. 631-639). That shows a massive gap between the goals the Paris Agreement set and reality.
The United States of America affirmed to decrease its overall climate pollution by 26%-28% and bring the overall pollution levels back to where it was in 2005. China also promised to reduce the overall carbon emission by 65%. The European Union promised to bring its carbon emission rate down by 60%. Although many countries vouched for making the world a greener place, neither of them is legally abided to follow the Paris Agreement. As a result, many countries do not follow the Paris Agreement due to the lack of commitment and a massive lapse in foreign policies, although it is not difficult to control carbon emissions on the national level.
Statistical data shows that China emits around 30% of the global carbon dioxide volume, followed by the United States with 15% and India with 7%. Even though China and the US vouched for taking care of the amount of carbon being emitted by their industries, nothing substantial has been done up to date, and their pledges have all gone in vain.
Political Differences and Climate Change
Political differences make significant reasons why climate change is not controlled properly. Take, for example, India. It is a developing country and one of the leaders in carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, differences between political parties in India don’t allow them to develop specific environmental policies. Plus, India, as a developing country, cannot slow down its industrial sector because this will damage the country’s economy. As a result, the lack of international effort along with domestic issues prevents India from cutting carbon dioxide emission, although this country has regularly been a victim of many violent environmental incidents, such as floods and hurricanes.
On the other hand, US President Trump never made policies that would cater to the climate change issue. He was ignorant about the dangers caused by the increasing global temperature. At some point, President Trump even questioned the prevalence of global warming (Eilperin 12-12).
Furthermore, China has been the key player in increasing global warming. The increased industrialization in the country poses a massive threat to the climate. Numerous studies show an increase in greenhouse gases emission in China (Hu et al.).
Although many countries advocate the steps taken for climate change, nothing has been done that can be appropriately documented. Big countries with big economies aren’t fully committed to fulfilling the Paris Agreement. The severe lapse in policies is a massive issue that negatively affects the fight against climate change.
Foreign policies
Most countries rely purely on fossil fuels to generate energy for their industries. With the exponential increase in industrialization, the United States backed out of Paris Agreement due to its political constraints (Ott 277-296). It became, therefore, the responsibility of the European leaders to join efforts and work for a better cause. One of the most significant flaws in foreign policies is whether the problem of climate change should be taken globally or locally. The use of fossil fuels is one of the significant reasons why carbon dioxide graphs keep rising year by year. With the United States being the second biggest contributor to climate change, there should be some legalized policies that stop the excessive use of fossil fuel. The withdrawal of the United States has defiantly put a massive dent in the findings on climate change research activities and preventive measures (Zhang et al. 213-219).
Statistical data taken from the Climate Action Tracker shows that some countries are doing well in keeping the overall carbon dioxide levels low. Still, countries like Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States are doing relatively poorly. These countries are rich with three major contributors to climate change – coal, oil, and gas. On the other hand, there is a critical lack of foreign policies meant to stop these countries from excessively using fossil fuels.
Underdeveloped and developing countries cannot become carbon-free without the help of developed counties. It has been reported that many new coal plants are under construction worldwide. Many states have entered the development phase recently and need the assistance of superpowers (Leahy, 2019). When superpowers like the United States withdraw from the Paris Agreement, how can smaller states help themselves? This question is asked by many but has never been answered. The world needs to reach net-zero by 2050. Otherwise, our planet would face critical difficulties. A small climate change can cause havoc for the entire ecosystem. Let alone if the global temperature crosses the safe limit, the world would be on the verge of collapsing.
Why Is the Paris Agreement Important?
Superpowers like the United States of America, Russia, and China must understand that they are key contributors to climate problems. The goal of the Paris Agreement was to create a policy that controls the quantity of carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere; otherwise, the entire ecosystem would be disrupted. The United Nations should take this matter into its own hands and assist every country in developing policies that will make the world a better and a greener place. Countries should use renewable energy sources rather than burn fossil fuels. Furthermore, the superpower countries should help developing nations that have entered the era of industrialization.
Conclusion and Recommendations
In the light of the above-stated facts, it can be concluded that our entire ecosystem is on the verge of getting destroyed due to climate change. All the countries need to put aside political differences and join efforts to prevent this. The goal of the Paris Agreement was to develop a policy that could ensure that all countries refrain from using carbon-rich resources for power generation. Developed countries like the United States and China should abide by the Agreement for climate preservation. These countries should also help underdeveloped or developing states control the greenhouse effect. Keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius is a matter of survival for humanity. Governing authorities like the United Nations must develop general policies for all countries and ensure they are strictly followed worldwide.
Works Cited
Eilperin, Juliet. “Trump says ‘nobody really knows’ if climate change is real.” Washington Post. Retrieved (2016): 12-12.
Fitchett, Jennifer M., Bronwyn Grant, and Gijsbert Hoogendoorn. “Climate change threats to two low-lying South African coastal towns: Risks and perceptions.” South African Journal of Science 112.5-6 (2016): 1-9.
“Home”. Climateactiontracker.Org, 2021, https://climateactiontracker.org.
Hu, Zeng‐Zhen, Song Yang, and Renguang Wu. “Long‐term climate variations in China and global warming signals.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 108.D19 (2003).
Leahy, Stephen. “Most countries aren’t hitting 2030 climate goals, and everyone will pay the price.” National Geographic 5 (2019).
Ott, Hermann E. “Climate change: an important foreign policy issue.” International Affairs 77.2 (2001): 277-296.
Rogelj, Joeri, et al. “Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 C.” Nature 534.7609 (2016): 631-639.
Savaresi, Annalisa. “The Paris Agreement: a new beginning?” Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 34.1 (2016): 16-26.
Turner, John, et al. “Antarctic temperature variability and change from station data.” International Journal of Climatology 40.6 (2020): 2986-3007. Zhang, Yong-Xiang, et al. “The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement and its impact on global climate change governance.” Advances in Climate Change Research 8.4 (2017): 213-219.
