Posted on December 14, 2020
While mitigation and adjustment require more climate funding, adjustment has generally received less support and has mobilized fewer private sector actions.  A 2014 OECD report showed that in 2014, only 16% of the world`s financial resources were devoted to adaptation to climate change.  The Paris Agreement called for a balance between climate finance between adaptation and mitigation, highlighting in particular the need to strengthen support for adaptation from the parties most affected by climate change, including least developed countries and small island developing states. The agreement also reminds the parties of the importance of public subsidies, as adjustment measures receive less public sector investment.  John Kerry, as Secretary of State, announced that the United States would double its grant-based adjustment funding by 2020.  Among other things, countries need to report their greenhouse gas inventories and progress towards their targets, so that external experts can assess their success. Countries should also review their commitments by 2020 and present new targets every five years to further reduce emissions. They must participate in a “comprehensive state of affairs” to measure collective efforts in order to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. In the meantime, developed countries must also assess the financial assistance they will provide to developing countries to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. The initial commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was extended until 2012. This year, at COP18 in Doha, Qatar, delegates agreed to extend the agreement until 2020 (without some industrialized countries withdrawing). They also reaffirmed their commitment made at COP17 in Durban, South Africa, in 2011, to create a new global climate treaty by 2015 that would require all major emitters not included in the Kyoto Protocol, such as China, India and the United States, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The new treaty – which was to become the Paris Agreement – was to completely replace the Kyoto Protocol by 2020. However, the Paris agreement came into force earlier than expected in November 2016. Gabbard is no longer a candidate for the presidency. “Yes, I support the re-accession to the Paris Climate Agreement,” Gabbard told The Post newspaper. “In the absence of comprehensive measures to reduce carbon pollution, climate change threatens the security of the planet, especially in places like Hawaii, where we are already seeing devastating effects. The United States should lead by example. Gabbard supports the demand for “an overall 40-60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from human sources from 2010 to 2030 levels” and zero net emissions in the United States and net zero.