The essence and spirit of Paris

The Paris Agreement on climate change ensured that climate leadership became diffused and distributed globally. With the US announcement to withdraw from the agreement, the primary objective at the recently concluded Conference of the Parties (COP23) should have been to retain and defend the essence and spirit of the Paris Agreement. In fact, the summit appeared to be veering away from that objective.

The essence of the Paris Agreement is to allow each country to submit its own plan to tackle climate change, rather than be obliged to adhere to a top-down imposition of emissions reduction targets. The spirit of