NOTE-TAKING and WRITING
Script
Hello, everyone. As you all know, climate change has become a global emergency that goes beyond national
borders. To tackle climate change, world leaders have signed a number of agreements. Today, I’ll be focusing
on the most recent one of these: The Paris Agreement.
Let me begin by providing some background information. So, the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, at the
United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was held in Paris. At the 2015 United Nations Climate
Change Conference, 194 countries plus the European Union signed the agreement to tackle climate change.
This was an unprecedented occurrence in world history. No other agreement in history has been able to
bring together 194 countries from all over the world plus the European Union for a common cause. So, why
was the Paris Agreement signed? What is its main aim? Well, the main aim of the agreement is to limit the
global temperature increase to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. What I mean by pre-industrial levels is
the temperature levels before the start of the industrial revolution. Scientists believe that a bigger increase
in global average temperature will have devastating effects on our planet. That’s why they want to pursue
efforts to limit the temperature increase to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
So, what makes the Paris Agreement different from the climate treaties coming before it. Until the Paris
Agreement, the Kyoto Protocol was considered to be the most extensive environmental treaty. However,
there is one critical difference between the two agreements. The Kyoto Protocol required only developed,
industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse emissions because they were, obviously, the main
emitters. Developing countries were not part of the protocol; they were exempt from it. However, the Paris
Agreement recognizes that climate change is a shared, global problem, and we are all in this together.
Therefore, it calls on all countries to reduce their emissions, no matter if they are developed or not. The
Paris Agreement, moreover, recognizes that the developing countries cannot tackle their emission issues
without the financial and technological help from the developed world. Therefore, in order to help
developing countries reduce their emissions, the developed countries are required to provide them with the
necessary financial and technological support.
OK, so if the differences are clear, now I want to move on to an important component of the Paris
Agreement: NDCs. NDC stands for the Nationally Determined Contribution. Nationally Determined
Contributions are the member countries’ short and medium-term plans to reduce their national emissions.
In other words, these are the short and medium-term efforts taken by each country to reduce their country’s
greenhouse emissions. Think of it as their roadmap to a greener future. Let me illustrate this with an
example. For instance, some South American countries aim at electrifying 80 percent of their transport by
the year 2040; yes, you heard it correctly, 80 percent of transport will be electrified by 2040 in some South
American countries. Let me now move on to important requirements regarding NDCs. According to the Paris
Agreement, member countries are required to submit their NDCs every five years to the United Nations. And
each update must be more ambitious than the previous ones. In other words, every five years, countries
should review their NDCs and submit more ambitious actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It's
like a friendly competition to see who can do the most to save the planet.
So, in conclusion, the Paris Agreement represents a landmark achievement in global cooperation to address
climate change. Through its inclusive approach and commitment… (FADE)
