warming of between 2.7 ºC and 3.5 ºC, temperature increases deemed catastrophic by experts, far above the 1 °C-maximum scientific standard of protection and climate stabilization identified by scientists.9 In the Paris Climate Agreement itself, the parties committed to a nonbinding target of temperature increases well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and agreed to pursue efforts to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 °C.10 Unfortunately, even the lowest of those targets, 1.5°C, is dangerously high, since current science indicates that, to prevent catastrophic ecological harm, warming must be limited to a long-term maximum of 1°C above preindustrial temperatures. 11 To meet this scientific standard of limiting global temperature increase to a maximum of 1°C, atmospheric CO2 must be reduced to less than 350 ppm by the end of this century. 12 While the pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 concentration was 280 ppm, today’s atmospheric CO 2 levels are over 400 ppm and continue to rise.13 An increase to 2 °C above preindustrial levels is expected if atmospheric CO 2 levels are allowed to reach 450 ppm. Leading scientists have identified a two-step prescription for meeting the scientific standard of limiting the long-term global temperature increase to a maximum of 1°C and reducing atmospheric CO2 levels to below 350 ppm within this century.14 First, global CO2 emissions must be reduced, starting in 2017, at a rate of approximately eight percent annually.15 To do so, States, including the Philippines, must immediately cease actions supporting industries that extract, process, transport and burn fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, and coal, and must implement comprehensive climate recovery plans, programs, and policies to rapidly reduce GHG emissions in line with this trajectory.16 Second, these actions to reduce emissions on the prescribed trajectory must be coupled with programs to “drawdown” an additional 100 gigatons of carbon (GtC) through natural sequestration projects, such as reforestation and improved agricultural and forestry practices. 17 9 Louise Jeffrey et al., 2.7°C is Not Enough—We Can Get Lower, Climate Action Tracker Update (Dec. 8, 2015), available at http://climateactiontracker.org/news/253/Climate-pledges-will-bring-2.7C-of-warming-potential-formore-action.html (last visited Aug. 10, 2016); Climate Interactive, Climate Scoreboard: UN Climate Pledge Analysis, available at https://www.climateinteractive.org/programs/scoreboard/ (last visited Nov. 7, 2016). 10 Paris Agreement, FCCC/CP/2015/L.9, 20 (Dec. 12, 2015), available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09.pdf. While earlier models of climate change dynamics indicated that a 2°C increase might be sustainable, these models failed to incorporate the slow feedback, system inertia and other dynamics that influence the effect of current temperature change on future climate change. Hansen et al., Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change,” at 15. 11 Hansen, Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change,” at 15; Exhibits A, B. 12 See Hansen et al., Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change”; Hansen, Storms. 13 NASA, Facts, Carbon Dioxide, available at http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/ (last visited July 10, 2016). 14 Hansen et al., Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change,” at 10; Exhibit A, ¶ 68; Exhibit B, at 1, 6. 15 Exhibit A, ¶ 68; Exhibit B, at 1, 6. 16 See Exhibit A, ¶ 97-98; Exhibit B, at 6, 7. For an outline of an approach for States to take to successfully reduce emissions, see Jacobson et al., 100% Clean and Renewable, at 59. 17 Hansen et al., Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change,” at 10; see, e.g., Rodel D. Lasco et al., Potential of Community-Based Forest Management to Mitigate Climate Change in the Philippines, 9 Small-scale Forestry 429443 (2010), available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rodel_Lasco/publication/225175774_Potential_of_CommunityBased_Forest_Management_to_Mitigate_Climate_Change_in_the_Philippines/links/54116b370cf2b4da1bec4322.p df; Rodel D. Lasco et al., Potential Carbon Sequestration Projects in The Philippines (2005), available at Our Children’s Trust Amicus Curiae Brief 3