The Paris Agreement was just the first step, now we need to change the way we do business

The author contends that the Paris Agreement lacks enforcement mechanisms and relies on a 'facilitative dialogue' that cannot guarantee the goal of keeping warming below two degrees Celsius. To avoid locking the world into a carbon-based economy, the text advocates for a systemic shift where capital markets incorporate carbon factors and investors prioritize sustainable infrastructure, aligning climate goals with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

• The Paris Agreement is characterized as a framework for reporting and reviewing rather than an enforcement tool, lacking the mechanisms to ensure the implementation of policies required to keep global warming well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
• Current greenhouse-gas emission levels are potentially at the upper end of modeled scenarios, leading scientists to warn that the window to maintain a two-degree limit is closing rapidly or may already be shut.
• Capital markets generally fail to integrate climate and carbon factors into asset pricing and risk evaluation, necessitating a shift in mindset among investors and companies to accelerate the low-carbon transition.
• Investment in sustainable infrastructure is presented as a critical path to avoid locking the global economy into carbon-based systems for another decade and to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

APA

Lidegaard, B. (2016). The Paris Agreement was just the first step, now we need to change the way we do business. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-paris-agreement-was-just-the-first-step-now-we-need-to-change-the-way-we-do-business/

Chicago

Lidegaard, Bo. The Paris Agreement was just the first step, now we need to change the way we do business. World Economic Forum, 2016. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-paris-agreement-was-just-the-first-step-now-we-need-to-change-the-way-we-do-business/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Lidegaard |first1=Bo |title=The Paris Agreement was just the first step, now we need to change the way we do business |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=24 October 2016 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-paris-agreement-was-just-the-first-step-now-we-need-to-change-the-way-we-do-business/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{lidegaard2016paris, author = {Lidegaard, Bo}, title = {{The Paris Agreement was just the first step, now we need to change the way we do business}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2016}, month = oct, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/the-paris-agreement-was-just-the-first-step-now-we-need-to-change-the-way-we-do-business/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }