Paris Agreement on Climate Change [What Think Tanks are Thinking]

After more than 20 years of negotiations, nearly 200 countries reached a landmark agreement in December 2015 on tackling climate change and its impacts. The European Union, with its ambitious climate policy, had been a strong advocate on a deal to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

The Paris agreement, conducted under the auspices of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, envisages a long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial levels, pursuing efforts to limit the rise to 1.5°C. This would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change. Many analysts have hailed the agreement as historic, but critics say it came too late and is too limited in scope.

This note brings together commentaries, analyses and studies by major international think tanks and research institutes published in reaction to the Paris agreement.

Compiled by Marcin Grajewski.

ESO: Paris Climate Change Conference, November-December 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/paris-climate-change-conference-november-december-2015/

ESO: Background information: Adoption of the Paris Agreement, 12 December 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/adoption-of-the-paris-agreement-proposal-by-the-president/

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