Citizens Central: Achieving the Paris Agreement

The document asserts that the Paris Agreement's success is hindered by a failure to recognize that a public mandate is essential for reducing emissions and transforming personal behaviors. It highlights the neglect of Article 12 and Article 11 of the Paris Agreement, which mandate climate education and public participation. The author notes that while the UK's Committee on Climate Change now acknowledges that net zero is impossible without engaging people, central government ministries still lack a dedicated strategy or budget. The document calls for a 'step change' in public engagement leading up to COP26 in Glasgow, proposing the launch of a Climate Engagement Initiative to ensure citizens' rights to understand climate impacts are upheld.

• The Paris Agreement failed to acknowledge that building a public mandate is essential for the success of the agreement, and current mitigation measures remain insufficient, with pledges potentially leading to a 3 degree temperature increase.
• Lack of public understanding and engagement has allowed populist politicians to dismantle climate action and has led to social unrest and riots in France and Ecuador over carbon pricing and fuel subsidy removal.
• Governments have largely ignored Article 12 (climate change education and public participation) and Article 11 (support for low-income countries to implement Article 12) of the Paris Agreement, with the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) forum lacking performance indicators and adequate funding.
• The UK Committee on Climate Change's Sixth Carbon Budget explicitly states that meeting a net zero target is not possible without engaging people or focusing solely on supply-side changes.
• Despite the UK's target to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030, the document claims this cannot be achieved without major changes in personal lifestyles and a corresponding increase in public engagement.

APA

Marshall, G. (2020). Citizens Central: Achieving the Paris Agreement. Climate Outreach. https://climateoutreach.org/citizens-central-achieving-paris-agreement/

Chicago

Marshall, George. Citizens Central: Achieving the Paris Agreement. Climate Outreach, 2020. https://climateoutreach.org/citizens-central-achieving-paris-agreement/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Marshall |first1=George |title=Citizens Central: Achieving the Paris Agreement |publisher=Climate Outreach |date=11 December 2020 |url=https://climateoutreach.org/citizens-central-achieving-paris-agreement/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{marshall2020citizens, author = {Marshall, George}, title = {{Citizens Central: Achieving the Paris Agreement}}, publisher = {Climate Outreach}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://climateoutreach.org/citizens-central-achieving-paris-agreement/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }