The
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an
intergovernmental treaty developed to address the problem of climate
change.
The Convention, which sets out an agreed framework for dealing with the
issue, was negotiated from February 1991 to May 1992 and opened for
signature at the June 1992 UN Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) — also known as the Rio Earth Summit.
The UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994, ninety days after the
50th country’s ratification had been received. By December 2007, it had
been ratified by 192 countries.
Parties to the Convention continue to meet regularly to take stock of progress
in implementing their obligations under the treaty, and to consider further
actions to address the climate change threat. They have also negotiated a
protocol to the Convention.
The Kyoto Protocol was first agreed in December 1997 in Kyoto,
Japan, although ongoing discussions were needed between 1998 and
2004 to finalize the “fine print” of the agreement.
The Protocol obliges industrialized countries and countries of the former
Soviet bloc (known collectively as “Annex I Parties”) to cut their emissions
of greenhouse gases by an average of about 5% for the period 2008-
2012 compared with 1990 levels.
However, under the terms agreed in Kyoto, the Protocol only enters into force
following ratification by 55 Parties to the UNFCCC, and if these 55 countries
included a sufficient number of Annex I Parties that at least 55% of that
group’s total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 were represented. Although
the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the United States, rejected
the Kyoto Treaty in 2001 after the election of President George W. Bush, a
majority of other Annex I Parties, including Canada, Japan, and the countries
of the European Union ratified the treaty.
In November 2004, the Russian Federation also ratified the Protocol, thus
reaching the 55% threshold. The Protocol finally entered into force as a
legally-binding document on 16 February 2005. By December 2007, the
Protocol had been ratified by 177 countries, including Annex I parties
representing 63.7% of Annex I greenhouse gas emissions in 1990.
With the immediate future of the Kyoto Protocol secured by Russia’s
ratification, an increasing focus of discussions since 2005 has been on the
multilateral response to climate change post-2012, when the Protocol’s first
commitment period expires. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in
December 2007, delegates agreed on a “roadmap” for 2008 and 2009
designed to bring about an agreement by December 2009.
The UNFCCC
Conference of the Parties: Parties to the UNFCCC continue to adopt
decisions, review progress and consider further action through regular
meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP). The Conference of Parties
is the highest-decision making body of the Convention, and usually meets
annually.
Secretariat: The Conference of Parties and the Convention goals are supported
by various bodies and organizations. This includes a Permanent Secretariat with
various duties set out under Article 8 of the UNFCCC. Since 1996, the Secretariat
has been based in Bonn, Germany, after an offer to host it was accepted by
Parties to the first meeting of the COP in 1995.
Subsidiary Bodies: A number of subsidiary bodies also advise the COP. The
Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) links scientific,
technical and technological assessments, the information provided by competent
international bodies, and the policy-oriented needs of the COP. The Subsidiary
Body for Implementation (SBI) was created to develop recommendations
to assist the COP in reviewing and assessing implementation of the
Convention and in preparing and implementing its decisions. The SBSTA
and SBI usually meet twice each year, at the same time and venue. One of these
two yearly meetings generally takes place in parallel with the COP.
More recently, two additional bodies have been established. In late 2005, the Ad
Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto
Protocol was established. In late 2007, the COP decided to establish the Ad
Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action, under the COP. For more
information on these bodies, see the sections on “COP 11” and “Post-2012
Issues” (below).
Financing and the Global Environment Facility: The UNFCCC includes
provision under Article 10 for a financial mechanism to support
developing countries and countries with economies in transition to a
market economy in implementing the Convention. Parties to the UNFCCC
decided that the Global Environment Facility (GEF) should act as the financial
mechanism, given its expertise in this area.
Other financial resources for implementing the Convention are also available
through the Special Climate Change Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund,
and the Adaptation Fund, as well as through donor countries and agencies.
Expert Groups and Other Constituted Bodies: The Convention is also
supported by a number of expert groups and other constituted bodies. These
include the Consultative Group of Experts (CGE) on national communications from
“non-Annex I” Parties (a group composed mostly of developing countries). Other
bodies include the Least Developed Country Expert Group (LEG), the Expert
Group on Technology Transfer, and the Executive Board of the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation Supervisory
Committee.
The Conference of the Parties also cooperates with, and is supported by,
numerous other international organizations and other groups, including scientific
bodies, UN agencies, and other conventions. These include the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which publishes comprehensive reviews on
climate change science every five to six years, as well as other technical reports
and papers.
Another group, the open-ended Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM),
which was created following COP-1 and was instrumental in securing the
agreement on the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, no longer convenes.
