United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Latest News

The world has gathered at the city of Belem in the Brazilian state of Para for the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

About United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

• UNFCCC is the principal global treaty for coordinating international responses to climate change. 
• It provides the foundation for subsequent legal instruments, including the Kyoto Protocol and the landmark Paris Agreement.
• The purpose of the UNFCCC is to harness international cooperation to limit the rise of average global temperatures to minimize the impacts of climate change to enable timely adaptation, avoid threats to food production, and ensure sustainable economic development. 
• It is one of three conventions that was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 to promote a sustainable planet for future generations. 
• Its sister Rio Conventions are the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification.
• The UNFCCC has 198 Parties, comprising 197 States and the European Union, making it one of the most widely ratified international treaties.
• Every year, parties to the Convention meet in Conference of the Parties (COPs), as well as in technical meetings throughout the year, to advance the aims and ambitions of the Paris Agreement and achieve progress in its implementation. 
• The UNFCCC relies on the scientific assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to inform its decisions and guide negotiations. 
  • The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. 
  • It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988.

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What is the Kyoto Protocol?

• Adopted in 1997 as part of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol outlines individual quantitative emission reduction targets for developed countries. 
• The Protocol required these countries to reduce their emissions by 5% in 2008-2012 compared to 1990 levels.
• One of the key elements of the Protocol was the implementation of market mechanisms to achieve these commitments. 
• These include the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), allowing the development of cost-effective projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ensuring mitigation benefits, and creating sustainable economic benefits.

What is the Paris Agreement?

• The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), highlighted the key role of the Framework Convention (UNFCCC) that it is connected to.
• The Agreement stresses the principles of the UNFCCC and introduces three goals: 
  • to keep the global temperature increase well below 2°C, with efforts to limit it to 1.5°C; 
  • to strengthen adaptation and resilience capacities; and 
  • to align financial flows with the other goals of the Agreement.
• The Paris Agreement also innovated by requiring all countries, both developed and developing, to regularly submit “Nationally Determined Contributions” (NDCs). 
• In the NDCs, each country explains what actions it intends to take to respond to climate change. The implementation of these actions will be accompanied by an enhanced transparency regime.
• As NDCs are defined by each country, they respect the national reality and sovereignty of each nation.

Source: DTE