The Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) are conventions that govern measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from 2020 onwards.
The Paris Agreement is a global treaty that aims to reduce global warming. The agreement was negotiated during COP21 (2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Paris and was approved on December 12, 2015. The Paris Agreement officially came into force on November 4, 2016. Its measures and goals will apply to all 195 signatory countries of the agreement as of 2020.
The oceans and atmosphere are warming year after year due to large-scale greenhouse gas emissions, a process that is harmful to the planet and is triggered by human action. The main causes of greenhouse gas emissions are the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation (which are responsible for renewing oxygen).
Combining population and industrial growth with sustainable development must be a constant effort carried out by everyone. And companies have an extremely important role, as demonstrated in the study carried out by CEBDS: How companies are contributing to the Paris Agreement.
The study shows what the business sector is doing to mitigate its emissions under the agreement signed at COP21. Thirty-eight global companies participated, of which 21 are Brazilian or have data on emissions in Brazil. The publication points out that companies have the potential to transform technological solutions and play a strategic role in meeting Brazil's target in the Paris Agreement.
From 2015 to 2017, Brazilian companies implemented 1,340 projects, totaling an investment of US$1.4 billion to reduce emissions. The projects contributed to a reduction of more than 217.9 million tons of CO2.
More than 90% of global companies have a target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the study, 86% of Brazilian companies have also already established their targets and almost 90% of them have a target to reduce emissions by 2025.
Carbon pricing – assigning a cost to the impacts generated by the increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, caused by the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use for the production of inputs, manufacturing, distribution and consumption of these products – is already used by 57% of Brazilian companies. Pricing instruments create opportunities for cost minimization, giving companies the freedom to choose technologies and make the decision to pay the price for emissions, according to their control costs and production and expansion goals.
International leaders discuss the Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement and climate change are on the agenda of international leaders' discussions in the run-up to the 14th G20 summit, which will be held on June 28 and 29 in Japan. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, June 27, that he will not sign any trade agreement with Brazil if President Jair Bolsonaro withdraws Brazil from the Paris Agreement, threatening to jeopardize trade negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, according to a report by Veja.
France was a key driver of the Paris accord and a proposed energy bill that aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is currently under debate in the country's parliament. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called on G20 countries on Wednesday to support more ambitious climate targets, among other international initiatives.
Japan, the host country of the G20 summit, has been criticized for supporting the continued use of coal for power generation, one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
