BBC Focus - 04.2020_

WHATWASTHEPARISCLIMATEAGREEMENT?

TOM:TheParisAgreementwasa real

breakthrough.Fora longtimetherehadbeen

thisbreakdowninnegotiationsaroundthe

issueoffairness.Developingcountrieswould

saytodevelopedcountries,“Youcausedthis

problem,andwhat’smore,yousaidyou’d

sortit outintheearly1990s.So,goaway

andmakerealprogress,andthen we’ll talk

abouta globalagreement.”

CHRISTIANA:Andit isfactuallytrue.

TOM:It’sa logicallyconsistentargument.

Anddevelopedcountrieswouldsayto

developingcountries,“Well,that’sallin

thepast,butinthefuture,mostofthe

emissionsmightcomefromyou,andsowe

needtodoit together.”Youcandefendthat

froma logicalperspective,eventhoughthe

issueoffairnessis clearlystillthere.So,for

yearsthosetwosides created a schism in

negotiations.

Thatwasultimatelyresolvedbya two-

partagreement:onelong-termgoaltolimit

climatechangetowellunder2°C,andbest

effortsto1.5°C,togettonet-zeroby2050.

Buttherehadtobesuccessive,nationally

determined steps towards that goal.

YOURBOOKTURNSTOINDIVIDUALCHANGE.CANONE

PERSON’SACTIONSREALLYMAKEA DIFFERENCE?

TOM:It’sa goodquestion.Lookatother

examplesinhistory,rightdowntofighting

neededconflicts,engagingingreat,shared

projects.If peoplesaid,“IfI’mnotableto

personallysolvethismassive,systemic,global

problementirelyonmyown,thenI’mnot

gettingoutofbedand having a go,” it would

havebeeninsane.

Ourfirsttaskis toreduceemissionsby

atleast 50 percentin 10 years.That’sa

7.6percentreductioneveryyear,whichis

unprecedented. It’s in excess of anything

THEFUTUREWECHOOSE

£12.99, MANILLA PRESS, OUT NOW

BOOKSMART

“Thatis whythemain message

in thebook is:we havetochoose.

Bothfutures are possible now.

It’s a matter of choice”

ChristianaFigueresand

TomRivett-Carnacweremajor

figuresin the 2015ParisClimate

Agreement.Theirbook,TheFuture

WeChoose, revealsthatwe are on

the precipiceof two futures:one

wherenet-zeroemissionsis achieved,

and one where it is not...

THE CLIMATE

CHOICE

INTERVIEW