The United States, the world`s second-largest emitter, is the only country to withdraw from the deal, a move by President Donald J. Trump that went into effect in November 2020. Other countries that have not officially approved the deal include Angola, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, Turkey and Yemen. The objective of the agreement is to reduce global warming described in Article 2, “improve implementation” of the UNFCCC by:[11] The Paris Agreement has a “bottom-up” structure unlike most international environmental treaties, which are “top-down” and are characterized by internationally established standards and goals that states must implement. [32] Unlike its predecessor, the Kyoto Protocol, which sets commitment targets with the force of law, the Paris Agreement, which emphasizes consensus-building, makes it possible to achieve voluntary and nationally defined targets. [33] Specific climate goals are therefore promoted politically rather than legally binding. Only the processes that govern the preparation of reports and the consideration of these objectives are prescribed by international law. This structure is particularly noteworthy for the United States – since there are no legal mitigation or funding objectives, the agreement is considered an “executive agreement rather than a treaty.” Since the 1992 UNFCCC treaty has received Senate approval, this new agreement does not need further congressional legislation for it to enter into force. [33] However, compliance powers under the Paris Agreement are weak. The compliance body must be transparent, non-adversarial and non-punitive and take differentiation into account.
[7] Byrnes and Lawrence postulate whether this can be considered an appropriate compliance system when there is no enforcement mechanism, such as.B. Sanctions for non-compliance or sanction of the rights of other parties. [8] The reason for this is that other elements of the agreement strengthen accountability and promote flexible participation, such as the interaction of review, reporting and evaluation. Adjustment issues received more attention in the formation of the Paris Agreement. .