A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND MALAYSIA

Abstract

Climate change has become an increasingly serious global concern, as rising global temperatures are likely to affect the entire world. In order to combat it, the United Nations has adopted several international instruments including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Doha Amendment and the Paris Agreement. This paper pursues three objectives: (i) to analyse the Paris Agreement and its principles to assess their efficacy and sufficiency; ii) to examine the domestic application of the Paris Agreement in Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United States; and iii) to determinate whether the Paris Agreement itself or its domestic implication, requires further recommendations to curb climate change. Under the Paris Agreement, States voluntarily participate by setting their own nationally determined contributions and committing to implement them. The overarching objective is to maintain the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. As the Paris Agreement approaching its tenth anniversary, it is both timely and necessary to review its effectiveness and to examine its implementation at the national level. Such an assessment can help determine whether states parties are genuinely adhering to their respective commitments. To this end, the domestic application of the Paris Agreement in Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United States will be analysed in order to evaluate whether the Paris Agreement is both effective and sufficient at the domestic level.