Climate Nexus has published a helpful mythbusting page correcting the misinformation that is already being spread about the Paris Climate Agreement. It is rewritten here with permission.
Myths and Facts about COP21, the Paris Climate Agreement
MYTH: “Paris is not legally binding; it won’t change anything. China and India will still emit so much CO2 as to make all US reductions pointless.”
FACT: Paris does have legally binding aspects, and other nations are already taking action.
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The Paris Agreement is legally binding in that each country’s pledge represents a domestically binding policy. The US commitment is based off existing law. The Clean Power Plan derives its authority from the Clean Air Act and Supreme Court rulings.
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The international pressure of the “Name and Shame” aspect will provide ample incentive for countries to follow through, as past agreements have demonstrated the efficacy of this informal censure. With India and China joining the US, there is no longer any international support for further inaction.
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China already started carbon markets in 7 regions in 2013, and has plans to begin phasing in a national carbon market in 2016. They recognize the health threat of coal burning, having banned new coal plants in key regions and reduced coal production by nearly 3% over the last year. China is also the largest investor in green energy globally, as seven of the top ten photovoltaic firms in the world are either Chinese firms or have their manufacturing facilities mainly located in China.
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India has committed to installing 100 gigawatts of solar by 2022. This more than quadruples the solar targets India set last fall, and will increase the country’s installed solar capacity by a factor of nearly forty. The US currently has an installed solar capacity of about 16 gigawatts.