[JURIST] The United Nations on Friday announced new private initiatives on climate control at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Marrakech [official websites], and called for greater “business leadership” in renewable energy. Private-sector initiatives such as the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative [official websites] are part of the UN’s ongoing efforts to implement the Paris Agreement [text, PDF]. Rachel Kyte [official profile], Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and CEO of the Sustainable Energy for All, emphasized that “[t]his is the kind of business leadership we need…. Companies are beginning to understand that by doubling their energy productivity and committing to use only 100 percent renewables they are creating the least cost pathway for themselves to decarbonization.”

According to many experts, climate change [JURIST backgrounder] as a result of global greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most pressing and controversial environmental issues facing the international community today. The Paris Agreement, the widest-reaching clean energy initiative, went into effect [JURIST report] on November 4, 2016. The Paris Agreement is the world’s first comprehensive pact seeking to reduce carbon emissions and halt climate change. The threshold of 55 parties, making up more than 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, triggering the entry into force of the agreement was reached exactly one month prior [JURIST report]. In September US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping formally committed [JURIST report] their nations to the Paris Agreement. However, President-elect Donald Trump has promised to pull the U.S. from involvement in the Paris Agreement [BBC report]. These two nations alone are responsible for roughly 40 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions. In May government signatories to the Paris Agreement discussed safeguards [JURIST report] against potential human rights violations which could arise in relation to the Agreement.