Is the Paris Agreement Legally Binding?

Most of us have heard of the Paris Agreement and understand that it is an international agreement that aims to tackle climate change on a large scale. But, how does it actually function, is it legally binding and what happens if countries don’t meet the Paris Agreement? We explore all below.

Is the Paris agreement legally binding?

There is no legally binding target, but the obligation to regularly set national targets is binding so the agreement is legally binding in that sense. Each country is allowed to set its own emission reduction targets and dictate its own strategies for reaching those targets.

In other words, according to the UN, “The Paris Agreement is a legal instrument that will guide the process for universally acting on climate change. It is a hybrid of legally binding and nonbinding provisions.”

Nations must redouble their climate efforts if they are to reach the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise by 2C—ideally 1.5C—by the end of the century.

“The Agreement consists of a core agreement that governs the international process will be binding on parties, while there are elements that are not part of the legally binding agreement. These parts, such as the intended nationally determined contributions, may be binding at the national level.”

The ultimate goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

How is compliance with the agreement measured?

Countries that have signed the Paris Agreement must have submitted national climate action plans by 2020 to show what they are working on and how they will reach the goals of the agreement.

Again, according to the UN, “The agreement not only formalizes the process of developing national plans, but also it provides a binding requirement to assess and review progress on these plans. This mechanism will require countries to continuously upgrade their commitments and ensure that there will be no backtracking.”

Part of the agreement is that participating countries must meet regularly to discuss progress and goals and report to one another.

What happens if countries don’t honour their commitments?

The idea of commitment to the Paris Agreement is that it is in every country’s best interest to implement it. It is essential for all of us to take climate action in order to save our planet and there is also the factor of showing global solidarity through the agreement.

The UN states that “there is no benefit to flouting the Agreement. Any short-term time gain will be short-lived. It will undoubtedly be overshadowed by negative reactions, by other countries, financial markets, and most important, by their citizens.”

However, some believe that countries are already showing a disregard for the agreement. The UK, for example, has been accused by prominent scientists and lawyers of ignoring the agreement when making major infrastructure decisions, such as the Heathrow expansion.

In fact, campaigners actually took the government to court in 2019 over this particular decision, and while the court of appeal agreed that the government should have considered the Paris goals in this decision, this ruling was reversed by the supreme court, a decision that has been criticised by campaigners.

There is concern that many countries are not reaching their targets. According to a report published this year by UN Climate Change, “nations must redouble their climate efforts if they are to reach the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise by 2C—ideally 1.5C—by the end of the century.”

As such, some nations are being encouraged to make their targets legally binding by enshrining them in domestic law. In the UK, for example, climate experts and scientists have drawn up draft legislation that would commit the government to producing a plan to meet the Paris Agreement, although it has been denied discussion in the Commons.

The UK is hosting the G7 summit and the COP26 meeting later this year, so its climate policy is likely to be under scrutiny!

If the countries don’t live up to their commitments, we may well experience a climate catastrophe, leading to species extinction, major catastrophic weather events and widespread food supply issues. We hope to see countries ramping up their efforts to tackle climate change at this year’s Climate Change Conference.