Symbolism can go a long way on the issue of global climate change. The presence of over 170 world leaders at the signing of the Paris agreement on climate change at the United Nations headquarters in New York last week was one of those symbolic moments. With major world leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State John Kerry, receiving big ovations from the packed General Assembly hall, the momentum seemed to be on the side of the fight against global climate change. The Paris agreement was the result of three weeks of intense negotiations between competing global interests last year. The agreement replaced the Kyoto protocols with a much more ambitious global plan to fight global warming and climate change. UN General Secretary Ban-ki Moon tried to put a positive spin on things by saying that the era of consumption without consequences was over. Not yet would be our answer. The Paris agreement does increase our hope of a future without some of the consequences of climate change but there are certainly no guarantees that key clauses in the agreement will be met.
For now, the promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions and pledges to help developing countries cope with the impact of climate change are just promises. Clamping down on climate change requires a major overhaul of the global economy, which is something no one seems ready for just as yet. After the signatures, the agreement will now need to be ratified with the 55 biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. This means that the agreement could take as long as 2020 to come into force. That would be five years too late. This only confirms how difficult it is to negotiate through the bureaucratic wrangling of international politics. The European Union has admitted that it will need to take the lead, but in some ways, it is easy for the first world to claim it is meeting its commitments as it is already in the process of de-industrialisation and moving key factories to locations in the developing world. The weakest and most vulnerable countries have already ratified the agreement. The delays are expected in major first world countries, with the US planning on setting up a complex process to make it more difficult for a future president – who could be a climate change denier – to pull out of it. For all the well-wishing and hope generated by the Paris agreement, it is only once it begins to be implemented that we will know if we have pledged to do enough to secure the future of humankind.