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Soft but significant power in the Paris Agreement

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 643–646 (2016)Cite this article

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The success of the Paris Agreement relies on a system of 'pledge and review', and the power of shaming laggards. This puts much of the burden for holding countries accountable on civil society.

The twenty-first Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris ended with an agreement that some call “the world's greatest diplomatic success”, while others insist it is “too weak” and full of “false hope”. The Paris meeting created a pathway for success, but the Agreement itself cannot ensure it. Here, we outline some of the challenges ahead.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful for the valuable feedback from the participants in the University of Pennsylvania's Risk Regulation Seminar Series and for the reviewers' helpful suggestions.

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  1. Jennifer Jacquet and Dale Jamieson are at the Department of Environmental Studies, New York University, 285 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10003, USA,

    Jennifer Jacquet & Dale Jamieson

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  1. Jennifer Jacquet
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  2. Dale Jamieson
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Correspondence to Jennifer Jacquet.

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Jacquet, J., Jamieson, D. Soft but significant power in the Paris Agreement. Nature Clim Change 6, 643–646 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3006

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