An effective climate agreement should foster broad participation, high ambition, and sufficient compliance. While the Paris Agreement has been acclaimed for spurring universal participation, its main mitigation mechanism—an unenforced bottom-up framework of voluntary pledges—has been criticized for lacking ambition and incentivizing free riding. This article examines whether the broad, bottom-up structure of the Paris Agreement comes with effectiveness trade-offs. It asks: How ambitious is the Agreement, and how likely is it that countries will comply with it? After presenting two theoretical perspectives on regime effectiveness, the article discusses the broad participation and bottom-up structure of the Paris Agreement. Thereafter, it presents a framework for measuring the ambition level of climate agreements numerically, and uses it to evaluate the ambition level of the Agreement. Subsequently the article turns to implementation, and draws on in-depth interviews, public statements by states and non-state actors, and theory on ideational change, to assess how the Agreement is intended to spur compliance. The article concludes with an integrative assessment of the Paris Agreement, and argues that its effectiveness prospects are currently largely positive.
No respite for New Delhi residents as pollution spikes again
Increasing pollution in the Indian capital is raising concerns among residents, especially when the city of more than 20 million is struggling in the face of coronavirus pandemic.
New Delhi residents complained of breathing difficulties as they stepped outside for cycling and exercising in the hazy morning of Monday, October 26.
“The pollution is becoming hazardous,” said New Delhi resident Mukul Diwan.
As winds drop after the monsoon and cooler weather sets in, a host of pollutants hang in the air over New Delhi. The problem is exacerbated by the burning of stubble in fields across northern India’s farm belt.
Dust and smoke fill Delhi’s air every winter, making breathing difficult for adults and children alike. Government data reviewed by Reuters shows that air quality this October has been worse than in the same month in 2019 and 2018.
