Pitfalls of the Paris Agreement in the Wake of Previous Failed Climate Treaties

The Paris Agreement is a monumental international climate treaty adopted by most nations and continues to serve as a framework for developing global strategies to address climate change. Much like the obsolete Kyoto Protocol, however, the Agreement shows little promise for limiting global mean temperature rise to less than 1.5°C. Its ambiguous guidelines for expected efforts from each country fall short of commanding necessary climate action, and peer pressure placed on parties to comply is unlikely to improve our warming trajectory. Furthermore, centering the Agreement around an international carbon market commodifies the environment, which shifts focus away from those affected by climate change and toward corporate elites who can buy in. Trading carbon credits as prescribed by the Paris Agreement will not directly lower global emissions; instead, we must support domestic decarbonization trends in the United States to reverse our position as a leading greenhouse gas emitter.