The Paris Agreement is the right environmental path? Hits and pending issues

Master's in Law and Economics of Climate Change thesis. Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales.

https://repositorio.flacsoandes.edu.ec/handle/10469/18744

The following research work seeks to critically elucidate the current state of the Paris Agreement. The fundamental objective is to identify if the Agreement is an effective instrument of international law to achieve the goals that it proposes. To do this, we determine that the Paris Agreement is effective if it meets three variables: a) the NDCs are in line with the parameters and requirements established by the Agreement, b) the flow of public climate finance reaches what is agreed upon in international negotiations and treaties, and c) is part of a proper institutional framework to achieve positive results. The result of the investigation was that States Parties NDCs are not ambitious because, at present, their promises do not adjust to the emission projections below 2°C. Second, we are not at the levels of public climate financing established in international negotiations and treaties related to climate change, which directly hinders the possibility of meeting the goals of the Agreement. Third, the complex international regime that frames progress in environmental matters is not conducive to achieve favorable results. Therefore, today the Paris Agreement is not an effective instrument to achieve the goals it proposes and thus avoid irreversible damage to the planet. However, part of the conclusions of the work establish that it may be a bit early to be decisive regarding the effectiveness or not of the Agreement, in addition to the fact that the document has inherent characteristics and conditions that allow the degree of demand to be adjusted over time, reflected in the performance of its Parties and international cooperation efforts. The methodological path includes in-depth documentary analysis and interviews with experts to verify the current effectiveness of the Paris Agreement.