THE CLIMATE-NUCLEAR NEXUS

while the United States agreed to reduce emissions
by up to 17% by 2020 and 28% by 2025. 60 The 2015 Conference
of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Paris provided
a political breakthrough by reaching agreement on
the goal of limiting global average warming to well
below 2°C with the aim of limiting the temperature
increase to 1.5°C. A further achievement of the Paris
Agreement was the broad political acceptance of
the scientific consensus that climate change is an
urgent global challenge that requires unprecedented
cooperation. The Agreement 61 and the accompanying
outcome document, 62 which takes effect immediately,
also established an elaborate process to review
states’ performance in meeting nationally determined
goals of contributing to global mitigation (prevention)
of and adaptation to climate change, and to
encourage them to adopt more ambitious goals. However,
the agreement suffers from several flaws that
put into question its ability to curb dangerous climate
change. Nationally declared emission caps, the key
element of states’ contributions to mitigating climate
change, are not legally binding which means that the
2°C threshold—commonly accepted as necessary to
prevent critical climatic tipping points—could still be
breached. In addition, the climate finance pledged as
$100 billion per year for developing countries by 2020,
with a commitment to further finance in the future, is
seen by some as late and insufficient. Finally, the text
shows that governments still seek to manage emissions
instead of phasing them out. This is well reflected
by the fact that parties could only agree upon
the goal of “achieving a balance between anthropogenic
emissions by sources and removals by sinks of
greenhouse gases” rather than a pact for decarbonisation
or a commitment to 100% Renewable Energy.
Obama also spoke in favour of a nuclear weapon-free
world in Berlin in 2008 63 and in Prague in 2009, 64 but
so far concrete measures have lagged behind rhetoric.
At his initiative, significant attention has been given
Countries with nuclear-weapon-free legislation
Countries in nuclear-weapon-free zones
Austria
Treaty of Semipalatinsk (5)
Mongolia
Treaty of Pelindaba (52)
Philippines
Treaty of Tlatelolco (33)
Treaty of Bangkok (10)
Antarctic Treaty
New Zealand
Treaty of Rarotonga (13)
Figure 15: An overview of existing Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones
and countries with national nuclear prohibition legislation
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