Paris Agreement Assignment
“There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than all other, and
that is the urgent threat of a changing climate”
Barack Obama, President of the United States of America Remarks to the U.N. Climate Change Summit (Sept 2014)
Instructions:
Global inaction on climate change costs the economy trillions of dollars every year (Nature, 2014; UNFCCC, 2018). In an effort to address the changing climate and mitigate the environmental, social and economic impacts, the global community has adopted a variety of agreements, protocols and treaties aimed at reducing emissions of global warming-inducing greenhouse gases.
Among the most recent global efforts, the Paris Agreement was introduced at the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris, on December 12th, 2015. The Paris Agreement’s central aim is “keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels” (UNFCCC, 2018).
Hundreds of countries have signed and ratified the agreement and will now call on business and individual citizens to act. What exactly does this look like? What changes will business need to make in order to reduce climate change-causing warming and how will it impact bottom line performance?
Tasks to Complete:
In order to answer the questions, listed below, you will have to:
1) Research the impacts climate change is having on global businesses.
2) Research the Paris Agreement to provide information on the agreement and its impact on business. You will produce a brief report detailing your findings.
3) Pick a country from the list of participating countries in the Paris Accord, which you will have to report on – (
“China” is selected from the list)
.
4) Include a reference section and in-line citations as needed.
Questions to Answer:
1. How has climate change impacted business?
a) Provide at least three specific examples where climate change is impacting businesses operations.
b) Make sure you reference the sources for your findings.
c) They may be positive and/or negative impacts.
d) Should be at least 250 words
2. What is the history of The Paris Agreement?
a) How did it come to be?
b) What is the current status of the agreement?
c) What is the role of countries and companies in implementing the objectives of the Paris Agreement?
d) Should be at least 500 words
3. Discuss how The Paris Agreement will or could impact global businesses?
a) Should be at least 250 words
4. What are Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)?
a) What are the objectives of these?
b) How are they supposed to work?
c) Should be at least 250 words.
5. For the company that you selected answer the following questions based on the research you did:
a) What is the status of The Paris Agreement for this country?
i. Have they signed or ratified it or something else?
b) What has the country done to action or implement the Paris Agreement?
c) What is the country doing to be able to achieve the objectives set out in The Paris Agreement? (i.e. are they using incentives or taxes?) Cite examples
d) What are businesses within the country doing to achieve the Paris Agreement objectives?
i. What role do the businesses play in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement?
ii. Has their local government incentivized the business to take action; if so, how?
iii. Are individual organizations, or businesses, self-motivated to work towards the Paris Agreement objectives; if so; why?
iv. Provide at least three examples of specific businesses and the actions that they are taking to achieve the Paris Agreements.
e) Should be at least 500 words.
6. Based on your research, what do you believe will be the best way to achieve real and lasting change towards solving the climate crisis?
a) Discuss whether you believe the Paris Agreement is enough (or is not enough) to control climate change?
b)
Should be at least 250 words.
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Instructor: Moses Moussa
) (
2020 Winter
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