Politics trumps science - A Critical Analysis of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

This talk presents a critical analysis of the Paris Agreement on climate change. 
Abstract:

Despite the political agreement reached by more than 180 countries at COP 21 of the UNFCCC, we argue that the outcomes fell conspicuously short of the world’s requirements in terms of climate science and global equity. Based on the concept of carbon budgets from the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) it is argued that the agreement has set goals that are at odds with their feasibility. The Paris Agreement perpetuates the low levels of climate action thus far undertaken by the developed nations while offering little concrete assistance to the less-developed nations. For the people of the less-developed nations, the agreement is likely to spell greater danger for those vulnerable to the impact of climate change and greater difficulty in guaranteeing the energy basis of their future development. The talk is based on two papers available at http://www.ras.org.in/the_paris_agreement_on_climate_change#  and http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/3/commentary/paris-agreement.html.

About the Apeaker:

T. Jayaraman was trained as a theoretical physicist and obtained his Ph.D
from the University of Madras in 1983. From 1991 to 2006 he was at the
Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. Since 2006, when he joined
the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, he has worked on issues of
science and society. More recently, he has been  working, with several
colleagues, on climate change and sustainable development issues with a
interdisciplinary focus including both the natural and social sciences.
Their work also has a strong focus on equity and justice aspects of
international and national climate policy.