Communitas’ Debate. Three years of Paris Accord: what changes?

On 12 December, another debate was held by the CECS think tank, Communitas. Three years after the Paris Accord, where is the fight against climate change? This was the theme of the debate with the participation of João Camargo, ICS climate change researcher at the University of Lisbon, Cláudia Pascoal, deputy executive director of the Institute of Science and Innovation for Bio-Sustainability at the University of Minho, and Jorge Leandro Rosa, an integrated researcher at the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Porto. The moderation was in charge of Anabela Carvalho, researcher of the CECS.

Taking a balance of these three years, the participants were objective and not very optimistic: for João Camargo, “the 3 years of the agreement are not a historical landmark of awareness”, for Cláudia Pascoal, “who needs salvation is not planet earth, but the human species. The planet earth will adapt” and for Jorge Leandro Rosa, “there is something that is happening that societies are divorced”.

The impacts of intensifying the greenhouse effect extend across all areas of life, from agriculture to building safety, from biodiversity to human health. We are therefore already experiencing some of the effects of climate change, which will inevitably worsen in the future. Developing preparedness measures for these impacts (often referred to as adaptation policies) is critical. But the biggest challenge is to massively reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate climate change and avoid worst-case scenarios.

Because climate change is linked to (almost) everything that is at the core of today’s societies – with very strong energy needs, with mobility, with industrial and other practices – this is an eminently social issue. It implies not only the modes of social organization but also values and visions of the world, and deserves a broad and continuous debate, so the debate remains online until December 19 on the Communitas website.

[Text published 12-14-2018]