‘Dynamic Differentiation’: The Principles of CBDR-RC, Progression and Highest Possible Ambition in the Paris Agreement

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Voigt ◽  
Felipe Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Collective Learning ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Common But Differentiated Responsibilities ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Set Up

AbstractThe Paris Agreement has struck a careful balance between the need for ambitious and effective climate action and for fair effort sharing among parties based on differentiation. This article provides an overview of the negotiation history of differentiation and analyzes the ‘dynamic differentiation’ as built into the architecture of the Agreement. While being set against the normative background of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement adopts a more diversified way of differential treatment among parties, approaching it in three complementary ways: firstly, on a principled basis, reflecting common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), in the light of different national circumstances; secondly, in the content of its articles, in particular on mitigation, finance and transparency; and thirdly, on the basis of the principles of progression and highest possible ambition, which represent new and dynamic aspects of differentiation. The authors argue that ‘highest possible ambition’ is reflective of a duty of care that states now need to exercise. It implies a due diligence standard, which requires each government to act in proportion to the risk at stake and to take all appropriate and adequate climate measures according to its responsibility and its best capabilities. By expecting parties to apply this standard at each successive preparation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and to progress beyond previous ones, the Paris Agreement has set up reiterative processes, an ‘international normative pull’ and a collective learning environment. This, in turn, creates a reflexive approach to parties’ determination of effort, promoting the evolution of voluntary cooperative behaviour.

scholarly journals Fusing subnational with national climate action is central to decarbonization: the case of the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan E. Hultman ◽  
Leon Clarke ◽  
Carla Frisch ◽  
Kevin Kennedy ◽  
Haewon McJeon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Integrated Assessment Model ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Emissions Reductions ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Reduce Emissions

Abstract Approaches that root national climate strategies in local actions will be essential for all countries as they develop new nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. The potential impact of climate action from non-national actors in delivering higher global ambition is significant. Sub-national action in the United States provides a test for how such actions can accelerate emissions reductions. We aggregated U.S. state, city, and business commitments within an integrated assessment model to assess how a national climate strategy can be built upon non-state actions. We find that existing commitments alone could reduce emissions 25% below 2005 levels by 2030, and that enhancing actions by these actors could reduce emissions up to 37%. We show how these actions can provide a stepped-up basis for additional federal action to reduce emissions by 49%—consistent with 1.5 °C. Our analysis demonstrates sub-national actions can lead to substantial reductions and support increased national action.

scholarly journals Paris: Beyond the Climate Dead End through Pledge and Review?

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 142-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert O. Keohane ◽  
Michael Oppenheimer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Financial Transfers ◽  
Newly Industrializing Countries ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Paris Climate Agreement

The Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015 marks a decisive break from the unsuccessful Kyoto regime. Instead of targets and timetables, it established a Pledge and Review system, under which states will offer Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to reducing emissions that cause climate change. But this successful negotiation outcome was achieved at the price of vagueness of obligations and substantial discretion for governments. Many governments will be tempted to use the vagueness of the Paris Agreement, and the discretion that it permits, to limit the scope or intensity of their proposed actions. Whether Pledge and Review under the Paris Agreement will lead to effective action against climate change will therefore depend on the inclination both of OECD countries and newly industrializing countries to take costly actions, which for the OECD countries will include financial transfers to their poorer partners. Domestic politics will be crucial in determining the attitudes of both sets of countries to pay such costs. The actual impact of the Paris Agreement will depend on whether it can be used by domestic groups favoring climate action as a point of leverage in domestic politics—that is, in a “two-level game” simultaneously involving both international and domestic politics.

scholarly journals The Montreal Protocol or the Paris Agreement as a Model for a Plastics Treaty?

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 212-216
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Iterative Process ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Montreal Protocol ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Emissions Reductions ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Common But Differentiated Responsibilities ◽  
Alternative Materials ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Over Time

The notion that a plastics treaty is necessary is gaining traction, but there is less agreement as to its content. Some, including this author, have suggested that a plastics treaty should be modelled on treaties such as the Montreal Protocol, which sets out a broad commitment to end the use of a particular material and then introduce regulations to ban particular forms of that material over time. This approach has an immediate appeal—it sends a signal to states and to industry that they must change their behaviors and products, while giving time to adapt to the new regulation and develop alternative materials or ways of working. The potential drawback of this approach is that some states simply will not accept such rigid standards. In addition, some states may prefer a second approach that is more obviously rooted in the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, which assigns different obligations to parties according to their respective capacities. Within the climate change regime, the Paris Agreement takes both approaches, asking states to set their own nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to emissions reductions (common but differentiated responsibilities) and then to revise these NDCs over time through an iterative process to deliver progressively more ambitious targets for emissions reduction (moving toward a ban) or mitigation. In reality, neither approach is entirely suited to regulating plastics, so a new approach to treaty-making is required. This new approach should focus on the outcomes desired rather than the practices that need to be regulated.

Accurate Method for Comparison of Scorching Qualities of Accelerators

1929 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
H. R. Thies
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Accurate Method ◽  
Index Number ◽  
Value Stocks ◽  
History Of ◽  
Milling Temperature ◽  
Set Up ◽  
And Control ◽  
Complete History

Abstract The determination of critical point curves for accelerators is of value in ascertaining their scorching tendencies. Also, the index number, defined as that increment of time at which the set-up crosses the 140 mm. “height of column” ordinate, is of value in comparing the scorching qualities of various accelerators. For accurate work the cures on the accelerators compared should be balanced at the temperature of use, and control obscuration readings should be fairly close together in their value. Stocks should be milled in as nearly the same manner as possible. For the complete history of an accelerator's behavior, critical point determinations should be made at at least two and perhaps three, temperatures, one corresponding to the milling temperature, another to the warm storing temperature of stock after it has left the mill or calender, and a third to room temperature, although the experimental results on the last named are not complete at this time. If these determinations are made, the scorching tendencies of an accelerator under actual factory use can be predicted with accuracy.

Prospects for climate governance in 2017

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Energy Capacity ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Collective Commitment ◽  
International Climate

Subject Prospects for climate governance in 2017. Significance The November 7-18 COP22 climate conference produced a new political declaration, the 'Marrakech Action Proclamation for Climate and Sustainable Development’, reaffirming the collective commitment to step up climate action to meet the temperature goal of keeping warming to below 2 degrees centigrade. Upward trends in renewable energy capacity are also promising, particularly as countries prepare to turn their nationally-determined contributions made under the Paris Agreement into reality. This progress remains fragile, however, because of uncertainty about the extent of US backtracking on international climate cooperation following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

scholarly journals How States Can Drive the Next Era of Climate Management in India: Perspectives in Mainstreaming Climate Actions from Gujarat

2020 ◽  
pp. 255-263
Author(s):  
Shanal Pradhan ◽  
Shwetal Shah
Keyword(s):  
Clean Energy ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Pertinent Question ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Climate Management

At the September 2019 UN climate action summit, India vowed to upscale its climate action by focusing on a low carbon pathway through renewables and other forms of clean energy, adopting sustainable mobility, preserving water, and securing finances for this transition. Implementing and up scaling these actions form an influential agenda under India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement. The emphasis on national determination and its success strongly hinges on the ambition of the states and the seriousness it has for driving climate actions. The initial step is to streamline such activities at sub-national levels to achieve climate change goals. Indian states, like countries, are too at different starting points with dissimilarities in their economic and developmental interests. Climate priorities took center stage for a few states, while many others have not been too aspirational due to misplaced prerogatives and differing capabilities. Thus, a pertinent question which arises is, could cross-pollination of ideas and innovations push states for concrete climate actions? This paper discusses a few prominent initiatives from the progressive state of Gujarat that could facilitate the exchange of climate measures in other states.

scholarly journals Towards a Personalized Organized Screening in Breast Cancer : Practical Determination of Thresholds of Risk in Women at Average-Risk

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Bonnet ◽  
Jean Pierre Daures ◽  
Paul Landais
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Age At Menarche ◽  
High Threshold ◽  
Average Risk ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Low Threshold ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Level Of Risk

Abstract In France, more than 10 million women at ”average” risk of breast cancer (BC), are included in the organized BC screening. Existing predictive models of BC risk are not adapted to the French population. Thus, we set up a new score in the French Hérault region and looked for a graded level of risk in women at "average" risk. We recruited a retrospective cohort of women, aged 50 to 60, who underwent the organized BC screening, and included 2241 non-cancer women and 527 who developed a BC during a 12-year follow-up period (2006-2018). The risk factors identified were high breast density (ACR BI-RADS grading)(B vs A: HR 1.41, 95%CI [1.05; 1.9], p=0.023; C vs A: HR=1.65 [1.2; 2.27], p=0.02 ; D vs A: HR=2.11 [1.25;3.58],p=0.006), a history of maternal breast cancer (HR=1.61 [1.24; 2.09], p < 0.001), and socioeconomic difficulties (HR 1.23 [1.09; 1.55], p=0.003). While early menopause (HR=0.36 [0.13; 0.99], p=0.003) and an age at menarche after 12 years (HR=0.77 [0.63; 0.95], p=0.047) were protective factors. We identified 3 groups at risk: lower, average, and higher, respectively. A low threshold was characterized at 1.9% of risk and a high threshold at 4.5%. Mean risks in the 3 groups of risk were 1.37%, 2.68%, and 5.84%, respectively. Thus, 12% of women presented a level of risk different from the average risk group, corresponding to 600,000 women involved in the French organized BC screening, enabling to propose a new strategy for performing an organized and personalized national BC screening.

scholarly journals Financing Climate Action and the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of 17 Developing Countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Alayza ◽  
Molly Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Finance ◽  
Needs Assessments ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Available Information

To meet the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals, it is crucial that developed countries support developing countries in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and mobilizing the required climate finance. For this paper, we analyzed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on climate finance and climate action implementation in 17 developing countries, drawing on available information from climate-finance tracking tools, reports, and climate needs assessments. Our analysis shows a decrease in climate finance flowing to developing countries. Most of this funding took the form of loans, and developing countries have reallocated or decreased their domestic climate flows because of the high costs of responding to the pandemic. As a result, climate-related projects have been delayed. Compounding the challenge, some developing countries have had to deal with major natural disasters amid the pandemic. Improved transparency through climate-finance tracking tools could help countries more easily identify their conditional and unconditional climate needs and mobilize and deploy resources more effectively. Climate-finance availability continues to fall short of the required amount of resources to implement developing countries’ NDCs and meet the Paris Agreement goals. The COVID-19 pandemic is widening this gap. Developed countries need to strengthen their commitment to close it by increasing climate finance.

State-by-State Use of AMA Guides

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-7, 16
Keyword(s):  
Expert Testimony ◽  
Narrow Range ◽  
The United States ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Federal Employees ◽  
Permanent Disability ◽  
Sixth Edition ◽  
History Of ◽  
Canadian Provinces

Abstract This article presents a history of the origins and development of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), from the publication of an article titled “A Guide to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment of the Extremities and Back” (1958) until a compendium of thirteen guides was published in book form in 1971. The most recent, sixth edition, appeared in 2008. Over time, the AMA Guides has been widely used by US states for workers’ compensation and also by the Federal Employees Compensation Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, as well as by Canadian provinces and other jurisdictions around the world. In the United States, almost twenty states have developed some form of their own impairment rating system, but some have a narrow range and scope and advise evaluators to consult the AMA Guides for a final determination of permanent disability. An evaluator's impairment evaluation report should clearly document the rater's review of prior medical and treatment records, clinical evaluation, analysis of the findings, and a discussion of how the final impairment rating was calculated. The resulting report is the rating physician's expert testimony to help adjudicate the claim. A table shows the edition of the AMA Guides used in each state and the enabling statute/code, with comments.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document