science-364-6443_climate-agreement-democracy

Promises and perils of the Paris Agreement

Climate science, politics, and activism stand to lose a familiar framing device. At the same time, the Paris Agreement has moved climate politics away from a decades-long commitment to centrally negotiated, legally binding emission reduction targets by introducing a democratic innovation: Under the Paris Agreement, member states decide individually, in the form of nationally determined contributions (NDCs), what actions they will commit to taking toward the common goal of climate risk reduction. This institutional innovation offers a much-needed source of democratic renewal for global climate politics..

By Mark G. Lawrence, et al. May 31st, 2019