Legal regulation of climate protection following the adoption of the Paris Agreement Abstract The Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 and became effective on 4 November 2016. The Agreement's central aim is to keep the increase in global average temperature well below 2žC above pre-industrial levels and to limit the increase to 1.5žC. The Agreement starts to apply in 2020. Under the Paris Agreement, each Party must communicate its nationally determined contributions, which will help to achieve the purpose of the Agreement. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the development of the legal protection of the Earth's climate system in the European Union after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Part One is subdivided into four chapters. The first chapter is introductory and provides an overview of basic terminology, scientific knowledge and observed changes in climate and their impact. Chapter Two deals with the subject matter of international climate change law. Chapter Three deals with the legal sources of international law, in particular with international conventions. Legal principles are described there as well. Chapter Four looks at the historical development of the international protection of the climate. Also, it focuses on the analysis of the Paris Agreement. This chapter describes the...

The Paris Agreement is one of the most important international agreements concerning environmental issues of the world. It aims to keep global warming within a safe range, primarily by reducing national greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement was adopted at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris in December 2015, and it came into force less than a year later. The agreement has received media attention in various countries, including France. Moreover, French politicians saw the Paris Agreement as a success of French diplomacy. The thesis is based on framing theory and uses the method of qualitative content analysis to find and name frames found in articles in the French regional daily Ouest-France and the national daily Le Monde, and then to compare them. The work focuses on the period of one year since the adoption of the agreement, specifically covering the period between 13 December 2015 and 13 December 2016 inclusive. The two selected newspapers contain the same seven frames (the important but insufficient agreement frame, the doom frame, the responsibility of all countries frame, the responsibility of France frame, the economic consequences frame, the intra-state conflict frame, and the inter-state conflict frame, with Ouest-France additionally containing the...

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This report investigates inconsistencies in climate policy engagement of 16 major corporations in five industrial sectors and analyses which problem areas are significant in the inconsistency of their engagement. The purpose of this report was to scope the area of inconsistent climate policy engagement on behalf of the company GES International – Global Engagement Services, who offers advisory services in responsible investment. This report has been performed through a literature review and is partly based on a report on corporate carbon policy footprint by the independent organisation InfluenceMap.   All companies investigated in this report are to some extent supporting the climate agenda of the Paris Agreement, including limiting global warming to below two degrees. Nevertheless, 14 of the 16 companies are at the same time showing a negative climate policy engagement. The problem areas leading up to this inconsistency that have been detected in this report are; when companies are taking part in organisational relationships that are unsupportive of climate change mitigation strategies, when companies are against climate legislation, the unwillingness of companies to change their own industrial sector and companies showing mixed signals on the same policy topic.   The conclusions that can be drawn from this report is that there are substantial inconsistencies in the climate policy engagement of companies and it can be difficult to assess what the company’s true stance on climate engagement is. Some measures to improve on consistency is for companies to review their policy engagement and be transparent on what their actual stance climate engagement is, however this transition can take time. / Den här rapporten undersöker inkonsekvenser inom klimatpolicy engagemang hos 16 av världens största företag, inom fem olika sektorer, och analyser vilka problemområden som är betydande inom motsägande klimatengagemang hos företagen. Syftet med rapporten är att granska området kring inkonsekvent klimatpolicy engagemang på uppdrag av företaget GES International – Global Engagement Services, som erbjuder rådgivning inom hållbara investeringar. Rapporten har utförts genom en litteraturstudie som delvis är baserad på en rapport om företags påverkan på klimatet genom policys som är utgiven av den oberoende organisationen InfluenceMap.   Samtliga företag som undersöks i den här rapporten visar sig till viss del stödja klimatagendan i enlighet med Parisavtalet, vilket inkluderar en höjd global temperatur på max två grader. Trots detta visar sig 14 av de 16 företagen ha en distinkt negativ klimatpolicy engagemang som strider mot deras erkännande av Parisavtalet. De identifierade problem i den här rapporten som leder till motsägande klimatengagemang hos företagen är; när företagens organisatoriska relationer som arbetar strategiskt mot att förbättra klimatförändringar, när företagen strategiskt arbetar för att motverka lagstiftande om klimat, när företag är emot att inkludera sin egen sektor i klimatarbetet och när företagen visar olika åsikter inom samma ämne.   Slutsatsen som kan dras från den här rapporten är att det finns substantiella motsägelser i företagens klimatpolicy engagemang och det kan vara svårt att avgöra vilken som är den sanna inställningen hos företagen. För att för att göra företagens klimatengagemang mer konsekvent kan företagen till exempel granska sina egna engagemang och vara transparenta med vad deras egentliga inställning till klimatet är. Omställning till ett mer konsekvent klimatengagemang hos företagen kan ta lång tid.

Ethiopia is rapidly urbanising. Similar to other urban areas in developing countries, major issues in Ethiopia include a high level of income inequality, lack of formal employment opportunities and deeply rooted poverty, tenure insecurity, poor infrastructure, and limited access to electricity and energy. Frequently settlers end up in impoverished urban squatters and slums which do not offer them even the most basic infrastructure and hence lack to provide them with the perspectives they came for. Onward migration to farer off destinations such as the EU member states thus often remains as sole option for those caught in such urban poverty traps. Although the issue of informal urban settlements is not new to the context of Ethiopian cities, the current rapid urban growth rates are exposing urban rental markets as well as infrastructure and energy supply to considerable pressure. The paper investigates the respective situation in Ethiopia and demonstrates some best practice examples. In the context of Ethiopian cities, energy production and distribution have been highly centralised under state entities and the scope for exploring local/business driven and decentralised systems has been limited. Transitions can be implemented towards sustainability and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals if collective identification and structuring of issues along with collective envisioning of future is provoked or facilitated.

Legal regulation of climate protection after the Paris Agreement adoption Abstract Since the early 1990s, most of the world countries have been cooperating to create a common climate protection system, which would be effective and would help to protect the Earth ecosystem for future generations without severe and irreversible changes. After more than 20 years of difficult international negotiations without any particular outcome, the ambitious Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in December 2015. The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate whether the Paris Agreement is a suitable instrument for climate protection and if it leads to the goals set in it. The first part of the thesis analyses the international climate protection development previous to the Paris Agreement adoption. The thesis describes the development since the cornerstones of the climate protection, over the first meteorological conferences, to the adoption of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the subsequent Kyoto Protocol. It deals with the Kyoto Protocol and disappointments caused by it. The end of the first part is devoted to the Copenhagen Accord, its specific status, and further development before the Paris Climate Conference in 2015. The second part deals with the analysis of the Paris Agreement itself, its...

The burning of biomass for cooking purposes without proper ventilation and filters poses a massive health and climate risk. Health implications from exposure to household air pollution from this type of fuel impacts women and children in many developing countries, who spend many hours a day cooking and gathering fuel. Climate implications from burning solid biomass results in increased carbon dioxide and black carbon emissions, which contribute to global climate change. This thesis aims to explore the issues associated with biomass cookstoves in terms of both health and climate, and seeks to understand how a new national clean cookstove program could be funded in India. This includes potential partnerships with United States agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other international funding sources. The topic of clean cookstoves has gained traction as a strategy to mitigate emissions and adapt to a changing climate, and with the recent passing of the United Nations Paris Agreement, funding is increasing to support programs that address climate impacts.

Bakgrund: Flygindustrin står för en stor del av världens totala koldioxidutsläpp som påverkar vårt klimat negativt. Forskning visar att antalet flygresor kommer att öka och bidra till 22% ökat koldioxidutsläpp till år 2050. När 194 länder signerade Parisavtalet åtog de sig att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser samt arbeta med att stötta de utsatta av klimatförändringarna. Parisavtalet trädde i kraft hösten 2016 och är en global överenskommelse som handlar om att minska och förhindra klimatförändringarna. Den viktigaste punkten är att hålla den globala uppvärmningen under två grader och Parisavtalet ligger till grund för klimatstrategier som ska bidra till långsiktig hållbarhet. Flygindustrin och hållbarhet kan ses som en oxymoron, men i och med Parisavtalet blir hållbarhet ett viktigt och centralt begrepp inom flygindustrin. För att minska mängden koldioxidutsläpp och förhindra klimatförändringarna krävsbeteende förändring och ansträngning från involverade parter. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att få en förståelse för hur SAS arbetar med hållbarhet, dess arbete mot ett mer hållbart flygande samt belysa SAS hållbarhetsarbete ur en konsuments perspektiv. Genomförande: Den teoretiska referensramen bygger på en litteraturstudie där begrepp och teorier förklaras för att sedan användas i en analys av det empiriska materialet. Undersökningen bygger på en fallstudie där en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod tillämpas. I empirin sammanställs utvalda hållbarhetsrapporter från SAS samt en kompletterande intervju i syfte att få fördjupad kunskap om hållbart flygande. En enkätundersökning genomförs för att få kunskap om konsumenters syn på SAS hållbarhetsarbete. Slutsats: Den hållbara utvecklingen för flygindustrin går långsamt framåt där begränsade resurser gör utbudet av biobränsle litet och dyrt. För att påskynda utvecklingen krävs förändring i teknologi, konsumenters beteende men också i samhällsstrukturen som idag möjliggör för flygbolag att ta ett mindre miljömässigt ansvar än vad som krävs för att nå uppsatta klimatmål. SAS hållbarhetsrapportering beskriver vad flygbolaget gör för att arbeta hållbart. Att agera individuellt är inte tillräckligt, det krävs globalt samarbete där flygindustrin kan behöva komma regleras. / Background: The aviation industry cause a large part of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions and affect our climate negative. Research shows that the amount of flights will increase and contribute to 22% more carbon dioxide emissions by the year of 2050. When 194 countries signed the Paris Agreement they undertook to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and support those who got affected by the climate changes. The Paris Agreement came into force in the fall of 2016 and it’s a global agreement aiming to reduce and prevent climate changes. The most important goal is to keep the global warming below two degrees Celsius, and the Paris Agreement is the foundation for climate strategies that will contribute to longterm sustainability. The aviation industry and sustainability can be seen as a oxymoron, but with the Paris Agreement, sustainability becomes an important and a central concept in the industry. To reduce the carbon dioxide emissions and prevent the climate changes, all involved parties must change habits and put in a lot of effort. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how SAS works with sustainability, their work towards more sustainable flying. The study also highlights SAS sustainability work from a consumer perspective. Implementation: The theoretical framework draws on a literature study where concepts and theories are explained to be used in an analysis of the empirical material. The study is based ona case study where a combination of qualitative and quantitative study is applied. In the empirical study the selected sustainability reports from SAS are compiled and an additional interview was made to get more knowledge about sustainable flying. A survey was also made to gain an understanding of the customer's view of SAS's sustainability work. Conclusion: The sustainable development in the aviation industry is progressing slowly with limited resources making the supply of biofuels small and expensive. In order to accelerate the development it requires changes in technology, consumers flight behavior but also of the structure that today enables airlines to take less environmental responsibility than is required to reach the climate goals. SAS sustainability reports describe what the airline does to workwith sustainability. However, acting individually is not enough, it requires cooperation globally where the aviation industry may need to be regulated.

The increase of global average temperature depends linearly on the amount of carbon dioxide that is accumulating in the atmosphere. Consequently, the determination of a temperature target that should not be exceeded, corresponds to an amount of carbon dioxide that can still be emitted. This is referred to as a carbon budget. With the Paris Agreement, a global commitment to such a target exists. The signatories have pledged to hold “the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C […] and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”. Although the wording leaves room for interpretation, the Paris Agreement can hence be translated into a remaining global carbon budget. The distribution of this budget amongst countries can be a way to close the gap between the committed target and Nationally Determined Contributions, which are submitted by each country but currently expected to lead to a warming of more than 2°C. Taking the concept of national carbon budgets further and sharing them out on a smaller scale can support municipalities in framing their mitigation targets and planning measures accordingly. In this regard, the aim of this thesis was to calculate a Paris-compliant carbon budget for the city of Rostock, Germany. This was done by sharing out the remaining global carbon budget amongst countries based on the notion of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’, which is part of the Paris Agreement. To reflect on this notion two different country classifications were applied which resulted in carbon budgets for Germany of 4 450 and 6 200 MtCO2 respectively up from 1st January 2021. For a share between German municipalities, the grandfathering principle was applied. It allocates a budget to a municipality depending on the proportion in national emissions. An inventory, which was prepared for this purpose, revealed that Rostock’s territorial emissions accounted for 0.12% of all-German emissions in 2017. Based on this share, Rostock would receive a budget of 5 500 to 7 600 ktCO2 up from 2021, depending on the country classification. The thesis found further that current mitigation targets were falling short of complying with the Paris Agreement. Currently, both Germany and Rostock are basing their efforts on budgets two to three times larger than what can be considered a fair contribution.

In June 2015, the Vatican released Laudato Si’, Pope Francis encyclical focused on environmental issues. Pope Francis acted as an advocate for a binding agreement on climate change at the United Nation (UN) Convention conferences of the parties 2015 (COP21) citing the scientific consensus on the existence and human causes of climate change. This call for action by the Pope raised the question on the role of religion in the political sphere considering whether a religious authority could influence political matters. By building on the analytical framework drawn from the work of Corell and Betsill (2008), on assessing the influence of NGO in international environmental negotiations, this thesis developed an analytical framework for accessing the influence of Religious non-governmental organizations (RNGO) to examine the influence of RNGO on COP21. The findings also shed light on the secularization debate in International Relations.