Paris Agreement to Enter into Force: Implications for Enforcement in the United States and Internationally
By , K&L Gates
Global policy on climate change and greenhouse gas regulation is poised to take a significant step forward as the Paris Agreement (“Agreement”) enters into force just before international climate negotiations resume in Morocco next month. The 22nd “conference of the parties” (“COP-22”) will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, November 7 through 18, 2016, and will be the first time that parties to the Agreement gather after its ratification. Signatories to the Agreement include 191 countries and represent 95 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Now the hard work of implementing the Agreement begins. Parties are expected to start to reduce emissions under the Agreement in 2020, with a long-term goal of holding global temperature increase well-below 2 degrees Celsius. Meeting this goal requires steep reductions in carbon—for the United States, this will impact sectors of the economy that have not yet seen significant carbon regulation, such as oil refineries, cement makers, paper processers, chemical companies, and other manufacturers and will require continued reductions via the deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency, decreasing use of hydrofluorocarbons and methane, and motor vehicle emissions regulations.
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