United Nations Climate Change Conference
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, a pivotal annual gathering of nations, aims to address global climate change through collaborative negotiations and agreements. Originating from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established in 1994, the conference has evolved significantly, with landmark agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2015. Notably, the Bali Conference in 2007 marked a crucial turning point, where delegates developed the Bali Roadmap to strategize future emissions reductions, acknowledging the need for greater commitments beyond 2012.
The conference seeks to engage both developed and developing nations in concerted efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, with key players like China, India, and Brazil being integral to these discussions due to their substantial contributions to global emissions. The ongoing Adaptation Fund, initiated during the Bali Conference, continues to support clean energy projects in developing countries, reflecting a commitment to equity in climate action. As the COP meetings progress into the 21st century, they remain vital platforms for nations to negotiate and implement strategies to combat climate change, reinforcing the shared responsibility among all countries to protect the environment for future generations.
United Nations Climate Change Conference
Background
In 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force, and the nations, or parties, that ratified it have met annually in different cities in what are called the Conferences of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP). It was during the third annual meeting in 1997, or COP-3, that the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. COP-11, held in Montreal, Canada, included the first official meeting of the parties (MOP) of the since the protocol was adopted, and the group agreed to continue to meet annually. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as the Bali Conference) was hosted December 3-14, 2007, by the Indonesian government and held in the Bali International Convention Center. The Bali Conference played a significant role in attempting to address global climate change, and that work continues. The Paris Climate Agreement was adopted at the climate change conference in Paris in 2015, known as COP-21. The COP continues to meet annually well into the twenty-first century, with COP-29 occurring in 2024.
For a long time, the United States was at odds with most of the rest of the European and the developing nations at the conference, because it did not believe that any nation should be bound by internationally determined targets. The United States hoped to persuade other nations that global warming could be addressed by each nation voluntarily setting its own targets and procedures for reaching them. The United States has altered its viewpoint in more recent years, as the Kyoto Protocol was replaced in 2015 by the Paris Climate Agreement.
Summary of Provisions
The focus of the Bali Conference was preparing for what would happen after 2012, the last year covered by the Kyoto Protocol. Most experts agreed that, however difficult it had been for the world to reach Kyoto Protocol targets for emissions reductions, even greater reductions would be necessary after 2012 if global warming was to be effectively addressed. This has proven an accurate prediction. At the end of the conference, representatives from both developed and adopted the Bali Roadmap, a series of future steps to reduce global warming. One part of the roadmap, the Bali Action Plan, outlined a two-year process for a series of negotiations that would determine how countries would reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after 2012. The negotiations occurred four times in 2008, with a major meeting at COP-14, in Poznan, Poland, concluded with a binding agreement at COP-15, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009.
The roadmap included the launching of the Adaptation Fund, which would finance projects for developing clean energy technologies in developing countries. The fund had been devised in 1997 at the Kyoto Conference, to be paid for through proceeds from the clean development mechanism, but it had not actually been created. As established at Bali, the fund was administered by a board of sixteen members that met twice each year to consider projects. Also included in the roadmap were clarifications and agreements on the scope of Article 9 of the Kyoto Protocol, which called for periodic scientific review of global warming and its effects. The roadmap also included agreements about how developed nations could effectively transfer clean energy technology to developing nations and how deforestation, which increases the harmful effects of GHG emissions, could be reduced. The Adaptation Fund continues to exist, with its fourth review having taken place in April 2021. However, its purposes now serve the Paris Agreement and no longer serve the Kyoto Protocol.
The work begun at the Bali Conference continues into the twenty-first century. The Paris Agreement's goal was to improve and replace the Kyoto Protocol. It entered into force in 2016 and had been adopted by 196 countries by 2024. It is now the principal regulatory mechanism monitoring the global response to climate change.
Significance for Climate Change
The Bali Conference had the potential to draw more participants into concrete plans to reduce emissions than had been involved previously. The roadmap, while it did not specify reduction targets overall or for any individual country, left open the likelihood that the two-year negotiation process would result in reduction commitments from additional nations. China, India, and Brazil, countries whose economies had grown quickly in the twenty-first century and that were among the largest emitters of GHGs at the time, were targeted to reduce their emissions after 2012. The Paris Agreement continues and extends the work begun at the Bali Conference, and some progress has been made. China has seen a decrease in emissions, though it still struggles to align its policies with long-term goals. India announced in 2022 they were committed to reducing emissions by 45 percent by 2030. Brazil also announced its goal of reducing GHG emissions in the agribusiness sector in 2022. In 2024, the climate change conference created an agreement that bound all participating developed nations to donate at least $300 billion per year to developing countries by 2035. The funds were to be set aside for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
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