COP 21 - My thoughts

December 2015 was one of the most important months of Earth's history. The COP21 summit, held in Paris, was the first legally binding agreement on climate that was signed by 195 countries.
But let's start with the basics. What is COP? Watch the short video below:

The 'climate bus' has been successful as countries have finally managed to agree on a statement: climate action is essential. An agreement was successfully made. The agreement was to keep temperatures “well below 2C”, have 'efforts' to limit it to 1.5C. The decisions made will mean countries are more responsible for the global climate change, as well as enable governments to seriously look at mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Additionally, COP21 ensured an agreement that countries peak their greenhouse emissions as soon as possible, as well as to strike a 'balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century' which is mentioned in Article 4.

There are many sections within the COP21 agreement. This interactive version of the Paris agreement is really helpful in this.

My favorite part from the whole agreement was Article 9 - which states that economically stronger countries are now committed in climate finance. Additionally, others are encouraged to provide voluntarily. Although the finance, as Evans states, is unspecific, I believe that the legal obligation to contribute to the Green Climate Fund (from COP17) is a stronger decision than before. Currently, more economically developed nations must provide at least USD $100 billion annually from 2020 to help the less developed countries adapt to the pressures of climate change, as well as help the transition to cleaner sources of energy (although ironically, not all developed nations have fully transitioned to clean energy yet.)

Twitter (Source)

However - COP21 should also be praised for a different reason. It had finally put health on the agenda as well, with "the right to health" being central to government action. Although COP21 may have been a 'historic win for human health', Neira and Campbell-Lendrum also emphasize that this is only the beginning.

What sort of implications does COP21 have on health? McMichael et al. (2011) estimated a possible 160,000 deaths and 5 million illnesses each year from the cummulative impact of climate change. With so many affected, health is an agenda that is difficult to ignore.

(UNFCC 2013)

As we can see from above, greenhouse gas emissions correlate positively with temperature. By cutting net greenhouse gas emissions, it can lead to a cooler planet. Hotter temperatures are linked to increased ozone air pollution. Ozone air pollution has negative impacts on lung functions, which can lead to increased likelihoods of respiratory disorders such as asthma. Whilst 60 ppb of outdoor Ozone is observable in large cities in more economically developed countries - this is the same level that young children with asthma show respiratory symptoms. At the same concentration, young adults had significantly decreased lung function, as well as inflammation of the airways. By decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, we can significantly improve our quality of life.

Additionally, Maria Neria from the WHO has said that 'tackling short-lived climate pollutants ... could result in 2-4 million fewer deaths each year'. In essence, by emphasizing health on the COP21 agreements, it could potentially mean we are getting closer to environmental justice.

What I find interesting is how long it took for health to become a primary aspect when it comes to climate change discussions. For too long has climate change been a topic that felt niche, and the expansion to include health definitely helped to increase the target audience. A paper by Myers et al. 2012 actually found out that framing climate change as a health issue were more effective in 'eliciting emotional reactions'. Furthermore, Maibach et al. also found that using public health to draw attention to climate change was very effective in public engagement.

As happy I was about the outcome of COP21, I do also want to talk about its criticisms - of which I'll explore in my next post.