The Issue of Climate Change and its Effects to our Earth

Bertillo, Mikaela P.
Enrile, Paolo
Juniosa, Matthew John Oliver G.
Mohammad, Putri Shanen J.
Tamargo, Angelique Bianca L.

De La Salle University - Manila

Submitted to:
Dr. Elaine Tolentino
 I. Introduction

Climate change, refers to the rise in average temperatures on Earth. Scientific consensus

maintains that climate change is due primarily to the human use of fossil fuels, which

contaminates the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Trapped heat

within the atmosphere, has a range of effects on ecosystems, including rising sea levels, severe

weather events, and droughts which renders landscapes more susceptible to wildfires. Other

human activities, such as agriculture and deforestation, also contribute to the proliferation of

greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

The people and major actors that are involved with this issue are the clear recipients of

the effects of climate change, no matter what intensity it may be in. These effects are felt

vigorously and cannot be denied as “inevitable” as the world goes through a cycle of this,

according to those who are in denial of climate change. Numerous threats call for numerous

solutions, the threats that climate change can affect the human race and its habitat. For instance,

the Kyoto Protocol that was ratified in 1994 and was aimed to stabilize greenhouse gas

concentrations through the atmosphere in order to prevent dangerous chemicals from entering the

atmosphere and thus, it would prevent the worsening of climate change. With the help of the

UNCED, Kyoto Protocol was adapted in 1997. However, it was only implemented on February

of 2006. The Kyoto Protocol was established to bind parties internationally to start reducing

emission reduction.

The issue of climate change with regards to its state actors and non-state actors, have

their respective goals and action to conduct. For states to address climate change, countries

adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris on 12 December 2015. The Agreement
entered into force shortly thereafter, on 4 November 2016. In the agreement, all countries agreed

to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and given the grave

risks, to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. As well as the need for global emissions to peak as soon

as possible, recognising that this will take longer for developing countries to undertake rapid

reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science. The agreement recognises the

role of non-Party stakeholders in addressing climate change, including cities, other sub-national

authorities, civil society, the private sector and others. They are invited to scale up their efforts

and support actions to reduce emissions and build resilience and decrease vulnerability to the

adverse effects of climate change to uphold and promote regional and international cooperation.

Furthermore, major companies as a contributor to world progress, the United States has big shoes

to fill with regards to keeping world order and making sure that the issues that circulate the globe

are tackled justifyingly and are made sure to be fixed. An evident show of the companies’

contribution to the Paris Accord is how they are urging the current president of the United States

to stay in the agreement, and even so if he doesn’t, they vow to do so. In an article about

American companies that were convincing Trump to stay in the Paris Agreement (DiChristopher,

2017), it stated that they wanted to express their support by the obvious participation of the

United States in the Paris climate change agreement. It was also mentioned that if the United

States will participate in the agreement, companies in the country will benefit as well (e.g

strengthening competitiveness, supporting sound investment, creating jobs, market and growth,

minimizing costs, and reducing business risks). The responses of big United States companies

have large impacts in the world, not only within their grounds. Some of these corporation were

namely; Apple, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Novartis Corporation, Schneider, Electric Shell,
Unilever, and Walmart, which are companies that are proponents of resource consumption. Thus,

their contribution to the climate change agreement should make a big impact in the process of

addressing climate change issues. ​Likewise, as non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

continue to advocate for specific issues, there are those that need support from the mass and

government in terms of financial and political help. Organizations like the WWF are strongly

involved in the preservation of nature, Greenpeace in SouthEast Asia, United Nations

Environmental Organization and much more are involved in addressing environmental issues

that circulate the globe, and also regionally. There are also those NGO companies that urge their

constituents to participate in making the world a greener place, much like the Carbon Trust from

the United Kingdom, Clinton Climate Initiative by the William J. Clinton Foundation. Through

these, there are concrete actions from groups that lobby towards the greener and much cleaner

and a preservation of nature, effectively (Herrera, 2010). Moreover, the goals of the public would

to simply do their duty towards mother earth. To respect that the resources we’ve exploited has

taken millions upon millions of years develop and it has taken us just a couple hundred in nearly

depleting our once lush Earth. The public must recognize the seriousness of climate change.

They must choose to make smart and moral choices by deciding to go green and not add to the

the norm of purchasing harmful products to the earth. Lastly the public must take a firm stand

towards saving earth for the next generation by keeping people informed either their neighbors,

teachers, family, & friends. At the end of the day information is key into progressing forward as

humanity.
 II. History of Progress Made in the Addressing Issue

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), as far as successful

accomplished projects go has completed quite a number of projects as well as some on-going

ones regarding climate change in various international levels. Programmes like the Renewable

Energy Performance Platform, the Regional Industrial Pollution and CO2 Emission Abatement

Project for Arab Countries are examples of actions that the UNEP has taken and successfully

accomplished (UNEP, n.d). Additionally, these programmes were made in order to provide

services to its corresponding area of assistance. Some of these services include finance readiness,

policy support and climate technology deployment. However, there are projects, organizations

and accords under the UNEP that have several concerns and limitations that prove that it is still

lacking in various aspects.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an international body under the

United Nations geared towards the assessment and compilation of the latest scientific literature

and research with regards to climate change. It was established in 1988 by the World

Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

and currently has one hundred and ninety five member countries. This body was created in order

to aid member governments in creating policies and plans of action for them to adapt, as well as

to combat the growing threat of climate change in their respective areas. The Panel does this by

publishing what is called the “Assessment Report” every five to seven years. These assessment

reports provide policy makers and related parties with the current status of an array of issues all
within the sphere of climate change including: its consequences, the foreseen risks, such as what

could be done to adapt to these new developments and eventually lessen its negative effect in

member countries. Moreover, these assessments also show the impact this issue would have not

only on the environment, but as well as the socio-economic aspect, which could severely affect

the development and livelihood of member countries.

With these reports, the Panel is also able to provide parties involved with a wide range

views, expertise and suggestions on actions to take moving forward. However, the reports must

remain: “neutral with respect to policy” (IPCC, n.d.) . Each report is published in three separate

volumes that each serve their own individual purpose and are formed by different Working

Groups. The Panel makes use of thousands of scientists’ research as reference; it also enlists the

expertise and assistance of thousands of scientists to take part in the whole process of

assessment, review and all the way to the final step of publication. The contents provided by the

first ever report brought forth the urgency and importance of international cooperation in

tackling this growing issue and therefore eventually helped lead to the formation of the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

This is regarded as: “​the key international treaty to reduce global warming and cope with

the consequences of climate change.​” (IPCC, n.d.). The United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was created in 1992 during the Rio Earth Summit and officially

took force on March 21, 1994. The principal objective of the UNFCCC as stated in Article 2 of

the convention is: “the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level
that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (p.9). It

currently has 197 member countries involved, whom are pertained to as “Parties” in which these

members convene every year, unless it is decided otherwise. These parties convene yearly in

what is called the Conference of Parties (COP): this is the principal organ that handles decision

making especially in terms of effective implementation of policies and other legal items that are

adopted by the Convention. Another key task of this body is to look into all the national

communications and emissions inventories submitted by each member state. The Conference

then makes use of this information to assess the implications of member parties’ measures and

gauge the progress made towards the main goal of the Convention (UNFCCC, n.d.). Under the

UNFCCC, many policies and initiatives have been passed, but some of the most crucial and

controversial are the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Accord which will be delved into further in

another portion. Initially, the main criticisms that the UNFCCC had received were with regards

to its implementation. Critics have found that majority of the initiatives or treaties created by the

Convention were non-binding, therefore the members were not legally obligated to pursue the

given goals and measures. According to Gits (2015), member states rather quickly came to the

realization that these non-binding agreements were no longer sufficient enough to accomplish the

Convention’s goals (par.4). Eventually, the Convention tried to remedy this issue with the

creation of the Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding agreement to set international target emission

reductions per member country. Despite this and other initiatives, the UNFCCC is constantly

criticized of having a lack of ambition, efforts and consistency in solving the issue of climate

change. Their processes and negotiations have been said to “move slowly and ….have not shown

significant effects on climate change policy” (Sagara, 2009). Meyer, Director of the Global
Commons Institute has said that “negotiations in the UNFCCC can be characterized as the

politics of international 'blame' and that the UNFCCC approach reflects countries’ own interests

or their own group interests” (p. 2). This then creates a difficulty in terms of arriving to an

agreement in this kind of an environment, as we have seen an example of recently with the

United States pulling out of the Paris Accord. Gits (2015) said that: “​There are efforts being

made to reduce the greenhouse gases, but according the scientist of the IPCC it is not enough to

keep the global temperature below ‘the acceptable scale’” (par.6). All in all, despite current

efforts to try and solve the worsening issue of climate change, more needs to be done in part of

the convention itself and its member parties to come to agreements not only on the urgency of

the issue, but on ways to address it as well as effectively implement policies and plans of action.

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that was made by United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a branch of the United Nations (UN)

under the UNEP, which makes its Parties commit to the agreement by setting internationally

binding emission reduction targets. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 and entered into

force in 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP7 in

Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the "Marrakesh Accords." Its first

commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The Protocol acknowledges that

developed countries are generally responsible for the current high levels of Greenhouse Gases

(GHG) emissions within the atmosphere. Additionally, the Protocol places a heavier burden on

developed nations under the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

(UNFCCC, n.d.). However, the main concern about the Kyoto protocol is that states were not

able to meet their targeted reductions of emissions, despite its ambitious goals, this includes

countries that are its major actors, such as Japan, Canada, and the members of the European

Union. According to an article, it could be argued that the Kyoto Protocol is hypocritical,

because no country that has ratified it, was able to meet its target levels of emission-reduction

(The Kyoto Protocol, n.d.). Furthermore, developing nations, such as Thailand and India, were

not obliged to cut their emissions, in order to not hinder the country's’ economic development

and progress.

Paris Accord

At the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015, 195 countries adopted the

first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal, the Paris Agreement. The Paris

agreement is a legally binding agreement between states wherein its goal is to create a global

action plan through limiting the overall temperature of global warming to below 2°C,

furthermore this agreement was developed in order to put the world on track to avoid dangerous

climate change. This accord is the middle ground for state policies and climate-neutrality, in this

way climate-related policies will not hinder the development of a state and its economy. The

agreement opened for signature for one year on 22 April 2016, and in order for it to enter into

force, in needs at least 55 countries representing at least 55% of the global emissions and they

are required to deposit their instruments of ratification (European Commission, 2017). Despite

the good will and initiative of the UNFCCC to limit global warming, the reality of the Paris

Accord is that it was more about symbolism than about reducing or limiting global warming.
According to Robert Bryce (2017), nothing in the agreement is legally binding on the signatories.

The Paris agreement does not have the same power as of a treaty, similarly there are no

consequences for countries that do not meet their Intended National Determined Contributions. If

states do not meet their intended assigned quotas, they would face a “potentially humiliating

experience”, according to a report. Furthermore, discussions about climate or the environment

are complex and vague. According to Oren Cass (n.d.), conventional wisdom bears the fact that

negotiators would negotiate a fair allocation of the deep emissions cuts all countries would need

to make to limit warming. However, that ideal is contrary to the reality of the accord. In fact,

emission reductions were not that considered at all, during the conference. The mediations were

manipulated to ensure that an agreement was reached regardless of how little action countries

plan to take.

III. Reformation of the Organization

Despite the fact that the UNEP has accomplished numerous projects with regards to the

problem of climate change, the organization however needs to undergo transformational and

incremental reformation. This is because under the UNEP there are several independent

organizations, for example: the UNFCCC, wherein the UNEP oversees its progress however it

has its own decision-making body which in turn makes it difficult for state and non-state actors

to coordinate with one another. Furthermore, the program must undergo transformational

reformation through merging said independent organizations into the main organization which is

the UNEP and converting them into specific branches so as to allow ease of operations and

negotiations. In turn, this allows the UNEP to have further jurisdiction to implement legally
binding agreements, therefore undergoing incremental reformation simultaneously. Political and

economic actors that are involved would have the better access to opportunities that promote

their interests, because the merging of organizations into the UNEP allows better management

because it was made into a smaller group. Furthermore, the incremental reformation of the

UNEP involves the reinforcement of the current terms, conditions, collaborations as well as

partnerships between business enterprises and organizations, along with the implementation of

consequences for failure to comply thereof, to create a sense of responsibility that these

Multinational Corporations (MNCs) require in order to adapt to positive change and the serious

implications of neglecting the damage done to the environment. In terms of the sustainable and

reusable energy prioritization it is crucial for this to be encouraged as the norm for all countries.

Development in the third world countries may focus on exploiting their own resources but the

long term effect does not justify the short term profit no matter how large it may be. Therefore,

this will encourage for clean, yet sustainable and renewable energy to be more accessible to the

public which will not only be beneficial to an environmental standpoint, but also in economic

perspective in the long-run, an improvement in social welfare as a by-product, and in turn will

not only save the earth but preserve its beauty for generations to come.
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