The Climate Change Collective is an initiative where the blogging community unites behind a common goal. This month’s lead post from A Sustainably Simple Life discusses the impact and effectiveness of three key global climate agreements dating back to 1987. It made me wonder what the future holds for these types of agreements.

What’s next for global climate agreements?

A Sustainably Simple Life’s piece looks at three significant global climate agreements dating back to 1987: The Kyoto Protocol (1997), The Paris Agreement (2015), and The Montreal Protocol (1987).

The post provides a high level overview of each agreement, along with a summary of the efficacy and impact of these initiatives.

As I read the piece, the thing that struck me first was that it has been almost 40 years since The Montreal Protocol, and 30 years since Kyoto.

The world has had 40 years to make progress on climate change. And we haven’t met the targets.

We have made some progress. We’ve seen an increase in awareness, grassroots action, and investment in green energy. But, in the 40 years since Montreal, emissions have continued to increase, consumption has exploded and shows no sign of slowing, and inequality between and within nations has worsened.

Unfortunately, the world has recently seen nations and organizations appear to pivot away from climate commitments. The voluntary nature of many modern agreements means that national policies and political will play crucial roles in achieving climate goals, or falling short of them.

A Sustainably Simple Life

Will we see a return to global cooperation?

I’d like to be optimistic, but the recent inability to reach an agreement on a global plastics treaty is a signal that these types of agreements will be increasingly difficult to negotiate, implement and enforce in the future. The fossil fuel lobby is just too rich and powerful.

Sadly, the world is more divided than ever. In countries that should be leading the way, greedy individuals and corporations are in bed with corrupt governments. And while many citizens have changed their behaviour, too many others prefer instead to bury their heads in the sand and deny the existence of climate change.

Here in Canada, it’s unlikely that environmental issues will get any attention during the current federal election campaign. The focus will be on protecting our country’s economy and sovereignty from the constant threats from the United States government. I get it. As much as I want to see progress on climate change, it’s hard to prioritize its importance against the very survival of our country.

Meanwhile, the Earth gets warmer, and extreme weather events increase in severity and frequency.

I usually like to end my posts on a positive note, but I’m not feeling very hopeful or optimistic at the moment. I do think knowledge is power, so I invite you to drop by A Sustainably Simple Life to learn more about these global climate agreements and how you can support them.

3 significant climate agreements and their impact

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About the Climate Change Collective

The Climate Change Collective started after I left a comment on a blog post by Jamie Ad Stories. Jamie and I wanted to find a way to keep the climate change message top of mind for everyone, so I put out a tweet to see what kind of interest there would be in a climate-change-related blogging collaboration. The Climate Change Collective was born!

The members of the collective take turns writing a monthly blog post sharing their unique perspective about climate change. After the post is published, the rest of the group keeps the conversation going by sharing a link to the post on their blogs along with their thoughts and ideas.

If you’re a like-minded blogger and would like to join our collective, please get in touch. More voices joining the conversation means more attention to the problems plaguing our planet!

More Climate Change Collective posts

The Climate Change Collective series has been going strong for over two years. See Two years of the Climate Change Collective series for a recap of the posts we published in the first two years.

Recent posts in the series

• Is Climate Change Overlooked in Schools? – Jamie Ad Stories
• Highlighting Useful Ways to be Sustainable This Winter – Transatlantic Notes
• Carrot or stick? Which works better to reduce our environmental footprint? – Boomer Eco Crusader
• Why Food Waste is a Big Deal and How to Prevent It – A Sustainably Simple Life
• Global Warming: What Surpassing 1.5°C Means for the Planet – Transatlantic Notes
• Tips for productive climate conversations – Boomer Eco Crusader

Thanks to Krista and Alison for being part of our Climate Change Collective and for providing insight into these climate agreements.

Do you see a future where we return to global cooperation on climate agreements? Tell me your thoughts below.