How China and Paris Are Planning to Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gasses

Climate change

Emission of carbon gasses into the atmosphere results to climate change. Global warming results from the greenhouse gasses trapped in the atmosphere. These gasses have enormous impacts on the environment including rising ocean levels, increased temperature levels, extreme storms, reduction in food crops, and drought just to mention a few (Shorr 2014). Several talks had held before the Paris Summit did not yield the same fruitful results. There have been several summits aimed at getting the planet's countries cut their carbon emissions. It is so unfortunate that most of these meetings have been ending without a solution (Oberthür & Wyns 2015).

However, in December 2015, France held a successful meeting, which saw China and other countries, agree to cut greenhouse gasses emissions to reduce its impact on the environment. The summit brought together countries who agreed on several deliberations which if implemented would see positive implications for environmental changes (Jayaraman 2015). This paper seeks to address the arguments of climatic change skeptics, the importance of China in the Paris summit, and policies they are pursuing to address global warming. Besides, it will draw an analysis of the summit and the reasons for difficulty in persuading developing countries to cut carbon emissions.

Climate Change Skeptic

There is a problem, a major problem indeed. The world should find a solution and bring change to it. Still, individuals are masquerading behind the pretense that promotes climate skepticism. Sibley and Kurz affirm that climate skepticism is propaganda arguing that global warming is nothing but natural and that; human activities have nothing to do with it at all. These individuals try to use all means to prove that climate change is a scam.

Also, they try to discredit actual and veritable climatical breakthroughs using bogus scientific research. McKibben’s argument, however, expels the misgivings that human is not to blame for the abnormal climate change (McKibben 2014). The discovery of the CFC-generated hole in the ozone layer discredits the arguments against a human being the cause of the unusual changes in the environment. Besides, governments with a huge stake in this try to cover up the ugly truth from the general population by planting uncertainties and bogus information (Sibley &Kurz 2013).

Importance of China in the Climate Change Debate

According to Browne, China is an economic giant, which rarely takes the necessary steps to solve the world's raging nightmare, the global warming. China wants to dine with the rich but still, it maintains a developing nation-state of mind (Browne 2015). However, it is noble to argue that China is responsible nation considering its position in Paris. It has a significant impact and role in the rate and direction of global warming. China being one of the biggest economies in the world, its emission of greenhouse gasses is immense. Their level of radiation has even surpassed that of the European Union alone. It attributes this to the significant growth in the energy sector and urbanization.

The worrying part is that, china's per capita emission according to projections would increase more by 2025. Before, countries, among them China, had not serious action plan to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gas. The 2015 Paris Summit, therefore, would act as a platform for countries to put forward their firm action plans (Oberthür & Wyns 2015). On the other hand, China had to lead in cutting down the emission through agreements.

Persistent growth in levels of Carbon emission into the atmosphere has far-reaching implications for the climate. Countries have a responsibility of ensuring that they reduce carbon emissions to managing global warming. Among them is China, which has a large stake in this. Therefore, China has mitigation strategies in place that would see it lessen the level of global warming by cutting down carbon emissions. China intends to limits its emissions to a relatively safer level, of 2C with an aspiration of 1.5c. According to Liu, et al. China rolled out a barrage of policies to aid the country hit its emission target.

The plans include promoting greenhouse power, developing glow-carbon buildings and transportation by 2020, and controlling HFC-23 emissions just to mention a few. Besides, the country seeks to implement the cap-and-trade policy, which will reduce carbon pollution significantly. All its plans would see the country cut carbon emission by 50% by 2020 (Liu, et al., 2013). These are among the few polices that China is pursuing to attain the minimum level of carbon emission as per the past world agreements.

Paris Climate Agreement

France's President presented the deal, a 31-page draft, to over 180 members for discussion. According to Jayaraman, the obvious expectation was that the countries would come up with a solution to the global warming menace. Remember climatical variations determine the future of the planet earth environmental status. Among the elements was the world's temperature goal. It necessitated every country to cut carbon emission to confine heat to a safer level of 2C and aspiration of 1.5. Secondly, the deal contained the long-term goal to reduce carbon emission to realize the 2C temperature.

Thirdly, there was deliberation to take stock after every five years as part of the promoting accountability. Besides, the goal would aid to monitor the progress of members and set ambitious targets. The fourth and the fifth factors, well discussed and agreed upon are the mechanisms for addressing financial losses in case of a liability due to its effects and pledge for financial support to enable developing countries to adopt climate change strategies (Jayaraman 2015).

The deal has both active and negative implications according to the view of Jayaraman. The positive side of it is that it promotes accountability among nations in ensuring that the 2C temperature is attainable. Besides, it provides a platform for tracking the progress of the countries towards the achievement of long-term goals as contained in the agreement. No country will face sanction if they do not fulfill their contribution towards the long-term objective.

However, sanctions are not part of the treaty, and thus, it can still allow countries to be reluctant. Accountability would be hard to realize due to poor governance (Jayaraman). In as much as the Agreement is legally binding, it should ensure that every party in it contributes towards the realization of the long-term goal. These make part of the negative and positive aspects of the Climate Agreement reached in Paris.

Persuading Developing Countries to Cut Carbon Emission

Despite the resolution reached in Paris, there is still a tough task ahead. This time round is nothing to do with convincing the members to sign the agreement. Persuading developing nations to cut carbon emission could be harsh to some extent. According to Geels, developing countries should join hands with developed nations to mitigate climate change. Besides, they should neither be rigid to any global climate change plan.

However, developed countries can attribute the rigidness to something. In as much as it is a global problem requiring a global solution, it is important to think through the reasons for the difficulty. Thinking through their concerns, for instance, would make it comfortable in drawing the road map for cutting carbon emissions from developing countries, which contributes a significant amount of carbon in the air (Geels 2014).

Shorr affirms that a continuous emission of carbon by nations will worsen the situation more. In addition, temperatures are likely to rise higher than it is now, therefore, leading to more heat and more harm to the environment and the people living on the planet (Shorr 2014). McKibben asserts that every person has a responsibility to protect the environment. He points out the consequences of environment pollution and global warming, which continues to impact on the climate (McKibben 2014)

Geels assert that developing countries stand to have a force behind it. It is because of the stringency of the targets. Adopting emission targets would affect their forecasted economic performance. Developing nations thus would argue that such targets would cause enormous economic losses by constraining their economic development pattern. It would have appeared better if structure the treaties on developing nation targets to reduce the possibility of being inadvertently restraining. They further argue that the target may be too lax, and it could fail to result in the actual level of expected cut in emission. Therefore, it would be better to mitigate the risk of involuntary laxity. Remember economic losses would not be favorable if it occurs. The worry of the developed nations should act with the consequence of such treaties and stringent measure in mind (Geels 2014).

Conclusion

It is the sole responsibility of every country to ensure that they reduce global warming. Global warming is a threat to the future of this planet. The level of heat day by day is becoming unbearable to the polar ice caps. Melting in Polar Ice caps would result in a rise in the ocean level, which becomes even more dangerous to island countries. The waters of the sea might cover the island displacing the residents. It is thus important to be considerate of the lives of others. Besides, it is critical to think about the impact it could have on earth if left to the gods.

The treaties in place do more good than harm in protecting the lives on the surface of the earth. Thus, even the developing countries should bear in mind that their contribution towards global warming is significant. In as much as it is not too much, it can as well cause harm. The perfect thing to do is to engage and join hands to reach a single stand that would benefit the whole earth. Without a contribution of all the states, it would be difficult for one or a few countries to manage the situation. On the other hand, the biggest emitters should prioritize the importance of the climate conditions. Their actions will influence the entire world and thus, they should step forward to ensure that they come up with effective policies.