The purpose of this compendium, which will be continually updated, is to amass a compendium of online pieces that might be useful for getting a handle on the new agreement, as well as providing some potential student readings. If you're not sure where to buy essays online, we can recommend to use our contact form to fill in the details of the order.

 

1. UN INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES

• UNFCCC Secretariat, Text of the Paris Agreement, Dec. 12, 2015
• UNFCCC Secretariat, Progress Tracker, Work Programme, Paris Agreement (2016)
• Christina Figueres, The inside story of the Paris Agreement, May 11, 2016 (TED Talk)
• UN News Centre, COP21: UN chief hails new climate change agreement as ‘monumental triumph’,  Dec. 12, 2015

2. NEGOTIATING HISTORY AND PROCESS

• Vermont Law School, Documenting COP21 (2016)
• Vermont Law School, Paris Agreement, Past and Future (2016)

3. GENERAL CRITIQUES

• Daniel Bodansky, Reflections on the Paris Conference, Opinio Juris, Dec. 17, 2015
• Will Bugler, COP21: Historic agreement reached, but hard work begins now, Acclimatise, Dec. 14, 2015
• Marcus Brandt, COP21 Explained #1 – The Paris Climate Agreement – Saving the Planet?, LinkedEnergy, Jan. 19, 2016
• Marcus Brandt, COP 21 Explained #2 – The Paris “Agreement” – What does it say?, LinkedEnergy, Jan. 30, 2016
• Marcus Brandt, COP 21 Explained #3 – The INDC’s – All in the same boat?, LinkedEnergy, Feb. 2, 2016
• Joshua Busby, After Paris: Good Enough Climate Governance,  Current History, Jan. 2016
• Carbon Brief, Analysis: The final Paris Deal, Dec. 12, 2015
• Ann Carlson, The Paris Agreement is a Miracle, Environmental Law Institute Blog, Oct. 12, 2016
• Center for Climate & Energy Solutions, Outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (Dec. 2015)
• Committee on Climate Change (UK), The good, the bad, and the ugly of the Paris Agreement, Dec. 21, 2015
• Thomas Day, et al., What the Paris Agreement means for global climate change mitigation, New Climate Institute, Dec. 14, 2015
• John Dernbach, Paris to Earth: Act Locally within the Global Framework, Dec. 13, 2015
• Meinhard Doelle, The Paris Agreement: Historic Breakthrough or High Stakes Experiment, SSRN, Dec. 22, 2015
• Meinhard Doelle, The Paris Climate Agreement: Historic Breakthrough in Spite of Shortcomings, Marine and Environmental Law News Blog, Dalhousie University, Dec. 13, 2015
• Justin Gillis, Climate Accord is a Healing Step, if Not a Cure, The New York Times, Dec. 12, 2015
• Peter Haas, The day after Paris: politicians hand the baton to green industries, The Conversation, Dec. 17, 2015
• IISD, Earth Negotiations Bulletin, Summary of the Paris Climate Conference, Dec. 13, 2015
• Michael Leibreich, We’ll Always Have Paris, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Dec. 16, 2015
• Kelly Levin, Understanding the Paris Agreement’s Long-term Goal to Limit Global Warming, World Resources Institute, INSIDER, Dec. 15, 2015
• Sarah E. Light, Reasons for Optimism in the Paris Agreement, RegBlog, Dec. 24, 2015
• Robinson Meyer, A Reader’s Guide to the Paris Agreement, The Atlantic, Dec. 16, 2015
• Axel Michaelowa, The Paris COP: Laying the foundation for ambitious climate change mitigation, Perspectives Climate Change, Dec. 14, 2015
• Jennifer Morgan, 4 Signs the Paris Agreement Is the Start of a New Era in International Climate Action, World Resources Institute Blog, Dec. 14, 2015
• Eric W. Orts, The Paris Agreement Delivers a Champagne Moment, RegBlog, Dec. 22, 2015
• David Roberts, The conceptual breakthrough behind the Paris climate treaty, Vox, Dec. 15, 2015
• Science Media Center, Expert reaction to agreement at Paris COP 21, Dec. 12, 2015
• Robert Stavins, Paris Agreement – A Good Foundation for Meaningful Progress, Resources for the Future, Dec. 14, 2015
• Robert Stavins, At last, global fretting on climate change, Harvard Gazette, Dec. 14, 2015
• David Victor, Why Paris Worked: A Different Approach to Climate Diplomacy, Yale Environment360, Dec. 15, 2015
• Shailendra Yashwant, A beginner’s guide to what transpired at the Paris Summit, Scrollin, Dec. 17, 2015
• The Paris agreement marks an unprecedented political recognition of the risks of climate change, The Economist, Dec. 12, 2015
• Paris climate deal is agreed – but is it really good enough?, New Scientist, Dec. 12, 2015

4. CRITICAL CRITIQUES

• Ben Adler, The Big Climate Agreement Won’t Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground, Mother Jones, Dec. 9, 2015
• Tom Bawden, COP21: Paris deal far too weak to prevent devastating climate change, academics warn, Jan. 8, 2016
• John Clark, The Summit of Ambition: COP21 Adopts Higher Ambition Standards, Academia, Dec. 18, 2015
• Danny Chivers & Jess Worth, Paris Deal: Epic Fail on a Planetary Scale, New Internationalist, Dec. 12, 2015
• Oliver Gedden, Paris climate deal: the trouble with targetism, The Guardian, Dec. 14, 2015
• James Hansen, father of climate change awareness, calls Paris talks ‘a fraud,’ The Guardian, Dec. 12, 2015
• Naomi Klein, We are Out of Time: We Need to Take a Leap, Bill Moyers, Dec. 11, 2015
• George Monbiot, Grand promises of Paris climate deal undermined by squalid retrenchments, The Guardian, Dec. 12, 2015
• Benito Müller, Finance in Paris, Oxford Climate Policy Blog, Jan. 2, 2016
• Surya P. Sethi, Ten Inconvenient Truths about the Paris Climate Accord, Dec. 16, 2015
• Ezra Silk, Sanders’ Climate Plan Outdated & Insufficient After the Paris Agreement, The Climate Mobilization, Dec. 17, 2015
• Tom Switzer, Paris agreement is a triumph of hope over facts, Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 28, 2015
• Durwood Zaelke, Paris Deal’s Carbon Cuts Miss Critical Warming Target, The Energy Collective, Apr. 25, 2016

5. FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT

• G. Ananthakrishnan, 1.5C Target is a Tall Order, The Hindu, Dec. 10, 2015
• Carbon Trade Watch, Paths Beyond Paris: Movements, Action, and Solidarity Towards Climate Justice, Dec. 1, 2015
• European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, The Road from Paris: assessing the implications of the Paris Agreement and accompanying the proposal for a Council decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Paris agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Feb. 3, 2016
• Ranping Song & Cynthia Elliot, From commitment to action: Signs of progress since the Paris Agreement, Eco-Business, April 19, 2016
• Piers Forster, 1.5C is a brave new world, CarbonBrief, Dec. 15, 2015
• Michael Gerrard, Legal Implications of the Paris Agreement for Fossil Fuels, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Dec. 19, 2015
• Georgetown Climate Center, The Next Frontier of Climate Change, Dec. 18, 2015
• Justin Gillis & Coral Davenport, Leaders Roll Up Sleeves on Climate, But Experts Say Plans Don’t Pack a Wallop, New York Times, Apr. 21, 2016
• Justin Gillis, A Path for Climate Change, Beyond Paris, New York Times, Dec. 1, 2015
• Hilal Elver, Climate change and the right to food, Aljazeera, Dec. 23, 2015
• Michael Hopkin, Beyond Paris: What was really achieved at the COP21 climate summit, and what next?, The Conversation, Dec. 13, 2015
• Nick Mabey, et al., Judging the COP21 outcome and what’s next for climate action, E3G, Dec. 12, 2015
• Bill McKibben, Climate deal: the pistol has fired, so why aren’t we running?, The Guardian, Dec. 13, 2015
• Joe Meyer, Which countries have the most work to meet the Paris Agreement?, World Economic Forum, Dec. 16, 2015
• Dominique Maingot, COP21: Taking a closer look at climate’s impacts on the oceans, Outreach on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Jan. 10, 2016
• Eliza Northrup, Not Just for Paris, but for the Future: How the Paris Agreement Will Keep Accelerating Climate Action, World Resources Institute Blog, Dec. 14, 2015
• Eliza Northrup, When Could the Paris Agreement Take Effect? Interactive Map Sheds Light, World Resources Institute Blog, Apr. 13, 2016
• Brad Plumer, The world just agreed to a major climate deal in Paris. Now comes  the hard part,  Vox, Dec. 12, 2015
• Joeri Rogelj, Why Paris Pledges Need to Overdeliver to Keep Warming to 2C, CarbonBrief, June 29, 2016
• Frauke Roser, Thomas Day, Marie Kurdziel, After Paris: What is Next for Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)?, International Partnership on Mitigation and MRV, March 2016
• Eric Roston, Paris Climate Pact: Too Little, Too Late?, Bloomberg News, April 19, 2016
• Megan Rowling, Does premature Paris climate deal risk a painful birth?, Reuters, April 18, 2016
• Stephan Saverese, To Reach Paris Agreement Objectives, Cut GHG Emissions Now!, Saving Our Planet, Jan. 28, 2017
• Clare Shakya & Benito Müller, Why an Effective Ambition Mechanism is Vital to Deliver the Paris Mechanism, Oxford Climate Policy Blog, Oct. 2016
• Randy Showstack, Experts Look for Early Successes from Paris Climate Accord, EOS, June 16, 2016
• Sara Stefanini, Next stop for the Paris climate deal: the courts, Politico, Jan. 11, 2016
• John Upton, How the World Has Changed Since Paris Compact Pact, Climate Central, Mar. 16, 2016
• Durwood Zaelke, Climate Agreement in Paris: Champagne Tonight, Hard Work, Fast Mitigation Tomorrow, Huffington Post Blog, Dec. 13, 2015
• Paris Agreement: near-term actions do not match long term purpose – but stage is set to ramp up climate action, Climate Action Tracker, Dec. 12, 2015
• Beyond Paris: What was really achieved at the COP21 climate summit, and what next? (74-page e-book prepared by The Conversation)
• UN chief calls for action on Paris climate agreement, Climate Action, Jan. 22, 2016
• Climate Cooperation after Paris, University of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, Jan. 13, 2016

5.1  U.S. Implementation

• John Cushman, Rising U.S. Emissions Make Paris Promises Elusive, Inside Climate News, Feb. 26, 2016
• Coral Davenport, Supreme Court’s Blow to Emissions Efforts May Imperil Paris Climate Accord, NY Times, Feb. 10, 2016

5.2   Geoengineering

• Academics call for geoengineering preparation in wake of Paris Agreement’s ‘deadly flaws’, Business Green, Jan. 11, 2016
• Kevin Anderson, The hidden agenda: how veiled techno-utopias shore up the Paris Agreement, Kevinandersoninfo, Jan. 6, 2016
• Olivia Boyd, World would likely need geoengineering to meet Paris targets, but what are the risks?, China Dialogue, Mar. 28, 2016
• Dan Farber, Does the Paris agreement open the door to geoengineering?, The Berkeley Blog, Dec. 14, 2015
• Simon Nicholson & Michael Thompson, To meet the Paris climate goals, do we need to engineer the climate?, The Conversation, Feb. 23, 2016
• John Shepherd. What does the Paris agreement mean for geoengineering?, The Royal Society, Feb. 17, 2016
• Daniel Tanuro, Spectre of Geoengineering Haunts Paris Climate Deal, Climate & Capitalism, Jan. 25, 2016
• John Upton, Geoengineering Is Too Risky, Scientists Warn Paris COP21 Negotiators, AlterNet, Dec. 8, 2015

6. BUSINESS FOCUS

• Lauren Compere, The Role of Investors After Paris, Huffington Post Blog, Dec. 28, 2015
• Risteard De Paor & Michael Polkinghorne, The Paris Agreement on Climate Change: Beware the Shield?, Breaking Energy, Apr. 1, 2016
• Clifford Krauss & Keith Bradshear, Climate Deal is Signal to Industry: The Era of Carbon Reduction is Here, New York Times, Dec. 13, 2015
• Mark McDivitt & Tim Nixon, Are Global Investors Playing Defense or Offense After Paris Accord?, Yale Climate Connections, Feb. 24, 2016
• Kevin Moss, Business Helped Make the Paris Agreement Possible, World Resources Institute Blog, Dec. 17, 2015
• Cecilia Reyes, The Paris Agreement – What Next for Business?, Eco-Business, May 24, 2016
• Valdeshi Shah, Business pledges at COP21: Progress or COP out?, Ecobusiness, Dec. 11, 2015
• What does the Paris Agreement Mean for Business?, Interview with Carbon Tracker’s CEO Anthony Hobley
• UNFCCC, Carney/Bloomberg Dialogue, Dec. 4, 2015 (video press briefing)
• David Wei, How Business Can Act on the Paris Climate Agreement, BSR, Apr. 20, 2016

7. ENERGY SECTOR IMPLICATIONS

• Paul Brown, Paris Deals Crushing Blow to Coal, Climate News Network, Dec. 19, 2015
• Chris Carr, Robert Fleischman, William Sloan, Paris Agreement on Climate Change Boosts Clean Energy Innovation and Finance, Breaking Energy, Dec. 23, 2015
• Suzanne Goldenberg, Rapid switch to renewable energy can put Paris climate goals within reach, The Guardian, Jan. 16, 2016
• Eric Holthaus, Paris Agreement Ushers in End of the Fossil Fuel Era,  The Slatest, Dec. 12, 2015

8. LEGAL ANALYSES

• Baker & McKenzie, The Paris Agreement. Putting the first universal climate change treaty in context, Jan. 2016
• Daniel Bodansky, Reflections on the Paris Conference, Opinio Juris, Dec. 17, 2015
• Elizabeth Burleson, Paris Agreement and Consensus to Address Climate Challenge, SSRN, Jan. 1, 2016
• Gary Coglianese, When Management-Based Regulation Goes Global, RegBlog, Dec. 23, 2015
• Jean Galbraith, The Legal Structure of the Paris Agreement, RegBlog, Dec. 21, 2015
• Jennifer Huang, Post-Paris Transparency under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 19(4) Climate Change, Sustainable Development (July 2016) (pp. 17-19)
• David Hone, Paris Agreement: Developing Article 6, The Energy Collective, Feb. 22, 2016
• Jennifer Huang, The 2015 Climate Agreement: Key Lessons Learned and Legal Issues on the Road to Paris, SSRN, Dec. 28, 2015
• Jennifer Morgan & Eliza Northrup, Form AND Function: Why the Paris Agreement’s Legal Form Is So Important, World Resources Institute Blog, Dec. 16, 2015
• Eliza Northrup & David Waskow, What’s In a Name? What’s In a Name? Paris Agreement’s Legal Form Explained in 7 Questions, World Resources Institute, Dec. 4, 2015
• Wolfgang Obergassel, et al., Phoenix from Ashes – An Analysis of the Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (Jan. 2016)
• Samantha Page, No, The Paris Climate Agreement Isn’t Binding. Here’s Why That Doesn’t Matter, Climate Progress, Dec. 14, 2015
• Sara Stefanini, Next stop for the Paris climate deal: the courts, Politico, Jan. 11, 2016
• Jorge E. Viñuales, The Paris Climate Agreement: An Initial Examination,  C-EENRG Working Papers, no. 6, Dec. 15, 2015

8.1 Loss and Damage

• William C.G. Burns, Loss and Damage and the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, SSRN, January 2016
• Kathleen Mogelgaard & Heather McGray, When Adaptation Is Not Enough: Paris Agreement Recognizes “Loss and Damage,” World Resources Institute, Dec. 24, 2015
• Saleemul Huq & Roger Mark De Souza, Climate Compensation: How Loss and Damage Fared in the Paris Agreement, New Security Beat, Jan. 12, 2106

9. ROLE OF CARBON MARKETS

• Katherine Lake, How will carbon markets help the Paris climate agreement?, The Conversation, Dec. 13, 2015
• Anthony Mansell, What role for carbon markets in the 2015 climate agreement?, Biores, Volume 9, Number 1
• Rebecca Pearse, After Paris: Where Now for Carbon Pricing?, Inside Story, Dec. 21, 2015
• Steve Zwick, Building on Paris, Countries Assemble the Carbon Markets of Tomorrow, Ecosystem Marketplace, Jan. 29, 2016
• Steve Zwick, The Road from Paris: Green Lights, Speed Bumps, and the Future of Carbon Markets, Ecosystem Marketplace, Feb. 1, 2016

10. JUSTICE AND EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS

• Alice Kaswan, The Paris Agreement and Theories of Justice, Center for Progressive Reform, Dec. 21, 2015

11. MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATIONS

• Boston University, Pardee Center, French Ambassador Gives Inside Account of Paris Deal, Feb. 9, 2016
• Francesco Sindico, Presentation on the Paris Agreement (video), University of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, Jan. 13, 2016
• Security and Sustainability Forum, Post COP21: From Intent to Action, Feb. 26, 2016