19 Nov

UNFCCC (UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE)

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Content

• Introduction
• Key Significance of UNFCCC
• KYOTO PROTOCOL
• PARIS AGREEMENT
• COP26
• COP27
• COP28
• COP30 – KEY EXPECTATIONS
• FAQs

Introduction

It is a UN convention which was adopted at Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and came into force in 1994. And It is aimed at preventing dangerous human interference with the climate system by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere.

Key Significance of UNFCCC

• 1) Recognition of the problem 
• 2) Setting target of stabilizing GHGs 
• 3) Onus on Developed countries
• 4) Funds and technology transfer to developing countries 
• 5) Regular Reporting -> Keep a tap on the problem

1) KYOTO PROTOCOL (FINALIZED AT COP-3)

It was an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So it was negotiated under the UNFCCC during a meeting held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 and came into force in 2005 (due to complex ratification process)

• The first commitment period was 2008-2012
• The second commitment period beginning 1 Jan 2013 to 2020. (Launched by Doha Amendment, 2012)

The objectives of KP included reducing greenhouse gas emissions through enforcement of compliance; promote sustainable development through tech-transfer and investment; and encourage developing countries and private sector to contribute to emission reduction.

Key Features

• The protocol ‘operationalized’ the UNFCCC. And it committed industrialized countries to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions based on the principles of the Convention.
• Binding Emission targets for 38 industrialized countries and the European Community (Annex 1 Parties) in its first commitment period.
• Binding targets only for developed countries – Common but Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR).

• Flexible Architecture of KP Regime to meet target

                ▫ National Measures and Market Based Mechanisms

• This market-based mechanism allows GHG abatement to start where it is most cost effective – for e.g. in the developing world.
• 3 Components – Carbon Trading, Clean Development Mechanisms and Joint Implementation
• Penalties for not meeting the targets

Evaluation of Kyoto Protocol?

• Most countries didn’t meet the targets for emission reduction assigned for the first period of commitment (2008-2012). For the 2nd period of commitment (2013-2020), the protocol came into force only on the last day – 31st Dec 2020.
• So, protocols impact was very small.

2) PARIS AGREEMENT AT UNFCCC COP21

The Paris Agreement and the accompanying COP decisions are focused on enhancing efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change beyond 2020.

a. Long Term Goal:

• Limiting global temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius, while urging efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.
  
• Two long term emission goals
  
  • Peaking of emissions as soon as possible (with a recognition that it will take longer for developing countries)
    
  • A goal of Net Green House Gas Neutrality (expressed as “a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks”) in the second half of this century.

b. Ends the Strict Differentiation between developed and developing countries:

• Provides for a framework that commits all countries to put forward their best efforts against climate change and keep strengthening these efforts.

c. Mitigation – Binding Procedural Commitments

• Preparing, communicating and maintaining NDC; Communicate new progressive NDC every five years.
  
• The agreement commits parties to “pursue domestic measures with the aim of achieving the objectives” of its NDC.
  
• Doesn’t make implementation or achievement of NDCs a binding obligation.

d. Carbon Markets: Article 6 of the Paris Agreement covers carbon credit mechanism

• Article 6 of the Paris Agreement sets out how countries can pursue voluntary cooperation to reach their climate targets.

• Article 6.2 (Cooperative Approaches):

• Article 6.2 of Paris Agreement allows voluntary bilateral or multilateral cooperation among countries or other entities for implementing NDCs by trading Internationally Transferred Mitigation outcomes (ITMOs).

• Article 6.4 (Centralized Mechanism):

• This is also known as Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM), is a successor of Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism.
  
• It provides a centralized mechanism and a centralized platform to generate and trade emission reduction credits among countries and companies, fostering international cooperation at a global scale to meet climate targets.
  
• Under Article 6.2, countries negotiated directly, whereas under Article 6.4, there is a centralized governance mechanism under a supervisory body which oversees the entire process.

• Article 6.8 (Non-Market Approaches):

• It focuses on capacity building or concessional grants/ funding etc to promote mitigation and adaptation efforts while at the same time advancing sustainable developmental goals.

e. STOCKTAKE / SUCCESSIVE NDCs

• To ensure successive improvement in efforts, the agreement provides for two linked processes, each on a five-year cycle.
  
  • Global Stocktake to assess collective progress towards the agreement’s goals.
    
    • The first global stocktake took place in 2023.
      
  • New NDCs every five years informed by the outcomes of the global stocktake.
    
    • Signatories should ensure that the new NDCs are more ambitious than the previous ones.
      

f.Finance

• Provisions for Support to poor developing countries by Developed countries.
  
• Finance Mobilization goal
  
  • The COP decided to extend the $100 billion-a-year goal through 2025, and beyond that, by 2025 COP will set a “new collective quantified goal from a floor of “$100 billion a year”.

g. Adaptation:

• A major priority for many developing countries was strengthening adaptation efforts under the UNFCCC. The agreement does that by:
  
  • Establishing a global goal of “enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change”
    
  • Committing enhanced adaptation support for developing countries
    
  • Including a review of adaptation progress, and of the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation support, in the global stocktake to be undertaken every five years.

h. Loss and Damage:

• In a victory to small island countries and other countries highly vulnerable to climate impacts, the agreement includes a free standing provisions extending the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.

When Paris Agreement of COP 21 entered into force

• It required approval of at least 55 countries accounting for at least 55 percent of greenhouse gas emission.
  
• It came into force on Nov 4, 2016 (a month after required number of ratification).

Analysis: Positives

• PARIS Agreement was a major breakthrough in climate negotiations.
  
• Its significance can be understood by the fact that 150 Presidents/ Prime Ministers attended it making it the largest ever single day gathering of heads of states surpassing even the UN summits.
  
• It turned the corner after the failure of Kyoto Protocol and inability to reach an agreement in previous COPs. And It represented a change in global attitude and recognized that climate change is a global problem which should be dealt immediately.

• It is more comprehensive than Kyoto Protocol and make every country responsible for fighting climate change.
  
• Regular stocktake and more ambitious successive NDCs will allow countries to rectify their shortcomings and better achieve targets.

Best Compromise possible:

• Developed countries ensured climate action would be joint responsibility of every nation unlike Kyoto Protocol.
• Developing countries were able to take heart by the fact that all important principle of differentiation has been retained, even though in diluted from.
• Island nations and least developed countries were happy to force the rest of the world to acknowledge the need to take a 1.5-degree path instead of the 2 degree it is more comfortable with.

Other Imp COPs

A) COP26 (Glasgow, 2021)

Background

• UNFCCC negotiations continued after the Paris Agreement (COP21, 2015):
  COP-22 (Marrakech, 2016) → COP-23 (Bonn, 2017) → COP-24 (Katowice, 2018) → COP-25 (Madrid, 2019) → COP-26 (Glasgow, 2021)
  

Key Outcomes of COP26 (GParallel Outcomes (Not Official COP26 Negotiations)
lasgow Pact)

1. Mitigation
   
   • Countries were asked to strengthen their 2030 climate action plans (NDCs) by 2022.
     
2. Adaptation
   
   • Developed countries to double adaptation funding by 2025 compared to 2019 levels.
     
   • Initiated a two-year work program to define a goal on adaptation.
     
3. Paris Rulebook Finalization
   
   • Carbon market provisions finalized (major achievement).
     
     • Credits from earlier periods (including Clean Development Mechanism) transferred to the Paris Agreement since 2013, aiding developing countries in meeting their first NDCs.
       

To prevent double counting, a country generating a credit decides whether to sell it or count it toward its own climate target. Emission cuts are counted only once.

Parallel Outcomes (Not Official COP26 Negotiations)

• India announced its “Panchamitra” initiative.
  
• Plurilateral Methane Reduction Agreement among 100 countries (India not a member).
  
• Plurilateral Agreement to reverse deforestation (India did not join due to trade clause concerns).
  
• COP26 Transport Declaration: 100% transition to emission-less vehicles by 2040; signed by over 30 countries.
  
• Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ):
  
  • 450 banks & financial institutions pledged annual reporting on financed carbon emissions.
    
• Commitments to provide trillions in green finance and achieve net zero by 2050.

Challenges Remaining

• Funding gaps
  
• Loss & Damage (L&D) issues

B) COP27 (Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 2022)

Key Outcomes

• Loss and Damage Fund: Agreement to establish the fund; details on sources and beneficiaries left for future COPs.
  
• Quantified Financial Requirements:
  

Estimated US$ 4 trillion investment per year in renewable energy till 2030 required to meet net zero by 2050.

C) COP28 (Dubai, UAE, 30 Nov – 12 Dec 2023)

Key Goals

• Reaffirmed net zero by 2050.
  
• Global Stocktake:
  
  • Achieving 1.5°C target requires:
    
    • 43% global emission reduction by 2030
      
    • 60% reduction by 2035 (from 2019 levels).
      
• Renewable Energy & Efficiency:
  
  • Triple global renewable capacity: 3,400 GW → 11,000 GW by 2030.
    
  • Double the global rate of energy efficiency improvement by 2030.
    

Loss & Damage Fund

• Fully operationalized.
  
• Provides financial support to countries recovering from climate-induced disasters.
  

Progress on Adaptation

• COP26 initiated a two-year program to define adaptation goals. COP28 identified:
  
  • Reduction of climate-induced water scarcity
    
  • Climate resilience in food and agriculture
    
  • Resilience against climate-induced health impacts
    
• COP28 called for doubling adaptation finance and set up mechanisms for assessment and monitoring.
  
• Explicit 2030 targets included for water security, ecosystem restoration, and health.

COP30 – KEY EXPECTATIONS

Key Focus Areas for COP30

1. Financing Climate Action

• New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG):
  
  • Mechanism to allocate $300 billion to developing countries.
    
  • Determine optimal allocation between mitigation and adaptation.
    
  • Maximize the impact of allocation on climate action.
    
• Baku to Belem Roadmap:
  
  • Aim to raise $1.3 trillion per year in climate finance by 2035.
    
  • Considered one of the biggest expectations from COP30.
    

2. Other Key Discussion Points

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM):
  
  • EU’s policy to tax imports (iron, steel, cement, aluminium, fertilizer) based on GHG emission intensity.
    
  • Developing countries argue CBAM is essentially a disguised tariff that could depress trade with the EU.
    

3. Challenges in Negotiations

• Geopolitical uncertainties:
  
  • Example: USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in the past.
    
  • Tariffs imposed by major economies have eroded trust among nations.
    

Such uncertainties complicate climate negotiations and delay commitments.

FAQs

1. What is the UNFCCC?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations and prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

2. What are the key objectives of the UNFCCC?

The main objectives are to mitigate climate change, adapt to its impacts, mobilize climate finance, and promote sustainable development through international cooperation.

3. What are the major climate conventions under UNFCCC?

Important conventions include the Kyoto Protocol (1997), which set binding emission reduction targets, and the Paris Agreement (2015), which aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

4. What is the role of COP meetings in UNFCCC?

COP (Conference of Parties) meetings are annual negotiations where member countries discuss climate commitments, review progress, and make decisions on mitigation, adaptation, finance, and technology transfer.

5. How is India involved in UNFCCC?

India actively participates in UNFCCC negotiations, promotes climate justice, renewable energy initiatives, and adheres to agreements like the Paris Agreement, emphasizing common but differentiated responsibilities for developing countries.