SOURCE:GRI
DESCRIPTION:
GRI was present in Paris to witness the intense negotiations leading up to what is now being hailed as the most historic agreement for the future of our planet. For the first time, every nation on Earth has committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, to keep warming well below 2-degrees Celsius, and to pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5-degrees Celsius.
GRI Chief Executive Michael Meehan, GRI Deputy Chief Executive Teresa Fogelberg, and GRI Director Communications Rashmi van de Loenhorst, hosted two key events at the 21st annual meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) with business, government and civil society; and were invited to speak in many of the side events and sub-conferences. They also actively engaged with government delegations, UN representatives, business leaders, and media to help influence the historic outcome.
GRI’s unique role in the Paris talks stems from our long standing expertise as a pioneer in sustainability reporting. GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are the world’s most widely used standards with thousands of organizations across 93 countries already using them to identify, disclose and measure their sustainability impacts on climate change, human rights, corruption and many other non-financial issues. Since 1997, GRI has provided metrics on climate change and these disclosures are among the most frequently reported by organizations that use GRI Standards. Emissions, water, energy and GRI’s other climate change related disclosures reflect state-of-the-art best practice in corporate reporting. GRI Standards are built upon a unique multi-stakeholder principle, ensuring the participation and expertise of diverse stakeholders. On the multi-faceted issue of climate change, GRI works with many global organizations including the OECD, CDP, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Four essential elements for success
1. Transparency for Transformation
Transparency, measuring and reporting are central to this global agreement. Never before has the term “transparency” been formally used in a UN agreement, and in the Paris agreement a “robust transparency framework” is key. Within the agreement, all governments must measure and track the implementation of their Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCs). Every five years, the commitment will be reviewed and potentially sharpened. The first stock take will be in 2018; and the five-year measuring and reporting cycle will start in 2020.
The Paris agreement is not only about carbon. It’s about saving the planet, and saving humankind. Although the main focus is on greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation, this is embedded within a broad sustainability context, with an eye for common but differentiated responsibilities. The first page of the final agreement acknowledges that “climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity.”
The role of business and other non-party actors is more central than in any other UN agreement. According to Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres: “The recognition of actions by business, investors, cities, is one of the key outcomes.” The Paris Agreement starts a new mechanism for state and business (non-state) dialogue. It is crucial that states, as the sole party in a binding international instrument like the Paris agreement, have the skills to engage with business and civil society, and finds concrete ways in which to format the multi-stakeholder process; and monitor, manage and report on the non-state contribution (positive and negative) to mitigation and adaptation.
GRI welcomes the commitment to finance in the Paris agreement, for nations to build clean, resilient futures. The agreement sets a new collective quantified goal from a floor of USD 100 billion per year by 2020. This will be complemented by a huge groundswell of private sector investment, technology transfer and innovation. The contribution by developed countries is binding, by developing country governments it is voluntary.
KEYWORDS: Environment and Climate Change, Energy, GRI, COP21, global reporting initiative
