The Paris climate change agreement and Ethiopia

1 General introduction
objectives
1 methodology
2
general over view
Climate change meaning and nature
the Paris climate change agreement

3 The Paris agreement and Ethiopia

Climate change and Ethiopia

Efforts to combat its impact
The Paris agreement : what is in it for us?

The Paris agreement : what obligation do we owe?

4
4 Conclusion and recommendation
 national proclamations and policy

Primary documents,
Paris accord, Paris decision, and
data UNCCC texts

books, journals,
Secondary
articles
data
 1.1 Meaning and nature of climate change
Climate change refers to long-term modifications to climate, whether due to natural occurrences or human
activity

Global warming refers to the increase in the Earths average surface temperature

So Climate change refers to a wider range of phenomena than just the increase in global surface temperatures

Scientist believed that

climate change is largely caused by human activities

All major climate changes, including natural ones, are disruptive
The speed of the current climate change is faster than most of the past events
(US National Academy of Sciences)
Climate change is one of the great
challenges facing humankind in
the new millennium.
Average global temperature has risen
0.6 C since 1900 and is projected to
increase 1.4 to 5.8 C by 2100
(Matthew Vespa, Climate Change 2001: Kyoto at Bonn and Marrakech)

)
 2.2 the Paris climate change agreement
was adopted in December 2015 and celebrated as a breakthrough in
global climate governance.
Many consider the agreement a historic milestone in the worlds endeavor to tackle
climate change.

It is the first global accord on climate change

that contains policy obligations for all countries.
It is a hybrid that enshrines both bottom-up and
top-down approaches to global climate governance
It left behind the rigid differentiation in responsibilities
between developed and developing
countries established in the Kyoto Protocol
It was adopted as an annex to a COP decision
 Purpose of the agreement
holding temperature well below 2C

a) while also pursuing efforts to stay below 1.5C

based on the principle of

common but
increasing the ability to adapt differentiated responsibilities
b)

and making financial flows consistent with low

emission and climate-resilient development
C)
continued
establishes a double threshold for its entry into force:
at least 55 UNFCCC parties have to hand in their ratification instruments,
these parties have to account for at least 55% of global GHG emissions based on
the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities

On 5 October 2016, the threshold for entry into force of the Paris
Agreement was achieved. The Paris Agreement entered into force on 4
November 2016.Until July 20/2017 of 197 Parties to the Convention, 153
Parties have ratified the Paris Agreement.

The PA covers the UNFCCCs traditional thematic areas mitigation, adaptation,

finance, technology, capacity building, reporting and accounting, and Loss and
damage
1.Mitigation reducing emissions fast enough to achieve the
temperature goal
2.A transparency system and global stock-take accounting
for climate action
3.Adaptation strengthening ability of countries to deal with
climate impacts
4.Loss and Damage strengthening ability to recover from
climate impacts
5.Support including finance, for nations to build clean,
resilient futures
PART TWO: THE PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE AND ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia has contributed little of the greenhouse gases

; but the country is mostly affected by the adverse
impact of climate change

Extreme climatic and weather conditions, unprecedented

flooding have become increasingly common

Desertification in the lowlands of Ethiopia is also

expanding

precipitation has shown a general decreasing

 Desertification
Drought and floods
water stress
Food insecurity

https://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/16-02-02-el-nino-climate-
change-all-you-need-know
Efforts to combat impacts of climate change in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has:-

actively participated in different international response of environmental and

natural resources protection conference.
sign and ratify the convention on climate change 31th May 1994
( Proclamation No. 97/1994.)
ratified the Kyoto Protocol on 21th February 2005(Proclamation No. 439/2005)
initiated the Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) to build a green
economy
become the leading country in representing Africa at the international climate
change negotiations
Ethiopia and Paris Agreement : What is in it for us?

Climate finance

international cooperation on climate change

Carbon marketing

Capacity building and technology transfer

 Climate finance for Ethiopia

There was political commitment made in Copenhagen to mobilize USD 100bn

per year by 2020,
The agreement under article 9 states that developed countries shall provide
financial resource to assist developing countries

The PD explicitly refers to the 100bn goal, stating that developed countries
intend to continue it until 2025 and that a new collective quantified goal shall be
set before that year, with the USD 100bn as a floor

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Adaptation Fund (AF)are the financial
mechanisms of the UNCCC and the Paris agreement

So we expect financial flow from the GCF and the AF

 Challenge in getting climate funds

The stand held by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) board relating to supporting Ethiopia ad
aptation effort i.e. an ideological preference for large scale infrastructure projects, rather than
ones that build resilience within communities

our countrys readiness to cop up with the procedural demands to get

the fund

Absence of full commitment and transparency of developed countries in providing climate

finance

U.S.A which is the highest contributor to the climate finance is on a verge of

terminating financial flow
Being part of international cooperation on climate change

By the Paris agreement ;-

parties recognize the importance of support for and international cooperation on

adaptation efforts taking into account the needs of developing country Parties,
parties are also obliged to strengthen their cooperation on enhancing action on
adaptation
parties are required to cooperate in taking measures, as appropriate, to enhance
climate
change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to
information
THUS knowing the fact that Ethiopia is the most affected developing state by
climate change, International cooperation through the Paris agreement serves
the best interest of our nation.
Carbon marketing
When GHG-emitting entities, to offset their carbon footprint by investing
in external projects or activities that reduce GHGs ,we call it carbon marke
ting or carbon offsetting.
by carrying out activities which reduce global carbon emissions such as
planting new forests and foregoing dirty technologies, has the potential
to be a major revenue source for Ethiopia.
Ethiopia could offset in the region of 250 million tons of carbon a year.
Even with the low current carbon price of US$10- 20 per ton, that could
generate billions of dollars for the country.
(Ethiopias vision for climate resilient green economy FDRE, EPA)
So being a party to the Paris agreement, Article 6 of the agreement can
help Ethiopia to cooperate on carbon pricing in order to meet her
mitigation commitments, and increase her ambition over time.
Capacity building and technology transfer

The Convention
notes that all Parties shall promote and cooperate in the development and
transfer of technologies that reduce emissions of GHGs
urges developed country Parties to take all practicable steps to promote, f
acilitate and finance the transfer of, or access to, climate technologies
The Paris agreement recognizes the importance of technology development
and transfer for adaptation and mitigation

Thus Ethiopia, as a party to the convention and to the agreement and

being developing country, will get the benefits of Capacity building and
technology transfer
What obligation do we owe?

Paris Agreement has set up a number of legally-binding obligations for

Parties. Most of these obligations are procedural in nature and require
Parties to submit certain types of information at certain points in time
or in regular periods or to report or account in accordance with agreed
rules.
Continued
Thus Ethiopia as party to the agreement has the following legal obligations;-
To prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions
(NDCs) (Article 4.2);
To pursue domestic measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such
contributions. (Art. 4.2)
to provide information necessary for clarity, transparency and understanding
(Article 4.8)
To communicate a NDC every five years (Article 4.9)
To account for their NDCs and to promote environmental integrity, transparency,
accuracy, completeness, comparability and consistency (Article 4.13);
To engage in adaptation planning (Art. 7.1)
To regularly provide information on national inventories and information necessary
To track progress made in implementing and achieving its NDC (Article 13.7)
We have also the obligation to fulfill the procedural requirements set by financing
bodies in order to get climate funds
conclusion
The Paris Agreement does not prescribe specific mitigation actions or
which emission levels should be achieved by when. Instead, it focuses on
individual climate mitigation plans and the transparency framework.

It is based on a pledge and review approach that requires country-driven

climate action. Hence, the big job now waits, namely for countries to
implement policies that will stimulate energy system transitions at the
domestic level around the world.

At the same time it is clear that success of the Paris Agreement will depend
on sustained political momentum for actual and progressively more ambitious
implementation through domestic policies and actions
Political commitment the case of USA

I believe this moment can be a turning

point for the world. The Paris agreeme
nt establishes the enduring framework
the world needs to solve the climate
crisis. It creates the mechanism, the a
rchitecture, for us to continually tackle
this problem in an effective way.

Barak Obama, President of the United

States of America
The government should strengthened national efforts of struggling
climate change impact so as to go in line with the Paris climate change
agreement goals
.

The idea of green economy should be the cornerstone of our

development process. So the climate resilient green economy
strategy should be implemented starting the grass root level.

We should also need to strengthen our cooperation

with those majority countries which sign and ratify the
agreement. Additionally, Even though USA is withdraw
ing from the Paris accord, our diplomacy with USA in
the areas of environmental protection should be stren
gthened.
Environmentalism should not be just for the sake of politics; rather it
should be for the greater good i.e. to tackle the real problem we face from
the impact of climate change.
Continued
We planned by our INDC to reduce our emission by 64% by the Year 2030
.this goal should not be just a superficial goal. So our industrialization
process should go hand in hand with our intended goal of emission
reduction.

Conserving the existing forest and enhancing the forestation

effort will make us competent in the global carbon marketing
.

We should also give the highest attention and concern to

the rule and procedural requirements of climate financing
Institution Lake the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation fund
.

we need to have also leaders like the late prime minister Melese
Zenawi , public figures environmental professionals etc
who can play a leading role in the climate negotiations.
finally we should stay on the right side

USA

Syria Nicaragua