Scott Barrett Quoted by Grist
Against all odds, the Paris Agreement is — kinda, sorta — working.
The Paris Agreement shouldn’t be working. In many ways, the landmark climate accord, agreed to at a U.N. summit in 2015, is a weak treaty. Despite the fanfare that accompanied its signing, the agreement has no binding limits on emissions, relies on countries to set their own goals for slashing pollution, and rests on an assumption that they can be shamed into living up to their promises. It’s not even a real treaty: To get the U.S. on board, the architects of the accord crafted it as an “executive agreement” — no Congressional approval needed. And yet, somehow, the Paris Agreement is working. To a point . . .
. . . “The framework seems to change what players say, and not what they do,” said Scott Barrett, a professor of economics at Columbia University. . .