United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a pivotal international treaty established to combat climate change and its impacts, recognizing the significant role of human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in global warming. Entered into force in March 1994, the UNFCCC serves as a framework for future agreements aimed at reducing GHG emissions, with subsequent treaties like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement building upon its principles. The convention acknowledges the distinct responsibilities of developed and developing nations, seeking to encourage cooperation while allowing developing countries to grow economically.
As of 2022, over 198 countries have become parties to the UNFCCC, marking it as a major international cooperative effort. The annual Conferences of the Parties (COP) facilitate ongoing dialogue among nations regarding implementation and new proposals, reflecting the evolving nature of climate negotiations. Despite criticisms regarding the fulfillment of commitments and the ambitious goals set to limit temperature rise, the UNFCCC has contributed significantly to raising global awareness about climate change as a shared existential challenge. Its structure aims to balance economic development with environmental sustainability, highlighting the complex interplay between political, economic, and ecological factors in addressing climate change.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
DATE: Entered into force March 21, 1994
The UNFCCC was the first comprehensive global agreement seeking to control the atmospheric factors contributing to global warming. Although the initial agreement did not identify specific environmental changes, it established a process through which pollution-control agreements could be made. The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement are the best-known of these subsequent agreements.
PARTICIPATING NATIONS: 1992: Australia, Canada, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Monaco, Seychelles, United States, Zimbabwe; 1993: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Burkina Faso, China, Cook Islands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Fiji, Germany, Guinea, Iceland, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia; 1994: Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Chad, Chile, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam; 1995: Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Panama, Republic of Moldova, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Togo, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates; 1996: Belgium, Congo, Croatia, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Niue, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen; 1997: Burundi, Cyprus, Singapore, South Africa, Suriname, Ukraine; 1998: Dominican Republic, Gabon, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Tonga, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; 1999: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Madagascar, Palau, São Tomé and Príncipe; 2000: Angola, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Equatorial Guinea, Kyrgyzstan; 2001: Serbia; 2002: Afghanistan, Liberia; 2004: Turkey; 2006: Montenegro, Timor-Leste; 2007: Brunei Darussalam; 2009: Iraq, Somalia; 2011: Andorra; 2014: South Sudan; 2015: Palestine; 2022: Holy See
Background
Although the environmental movement had been around for decades, it initially dealt with localized problems or changes that could be easily seen. Some individuals considered the broader picture, but the size of the Earth made many assume that people could not make significant changes on a global scale. In the late 1960s, partially as a result of the moon landings, people saw how small the Earth is within the universe. More people became concerned about the environment, as seen in movements such as Earth Day.
Funding for the scientific collection of environmental data grew, and the understanding of what was happening to the global system, especially the atmosphere, increased. Some scientists began to issue warnings about anthropogenic damage to the global system. In the United States, two examples helped people accept these warnings: acid rain and the depletion of the ozone layer. While acid rain was a problem only for specific locations and treated at that level, depletion of the ozone was seen as a global problem. Scientists could demonstrate how chlorofluorocarbons and related compounds were causing the expansion of holes in the ozone layer. A result was the Montreal Protocol of 1987, which limited the production and use of ozone-depleting chemicals. Within the agreement, countries were divided into developed and developing categories, with different regulations applying to each group. This proved to be an important precedent for future environmental treaties.
In June 1992, the United Nations hosted the Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (the Earth Summit). Among the items passed by the conference was the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). After enough countries ratified the agreement, it went into effect in March 1994. The UNFCCC recognizes that greenhouse gases (GHGs) created by human activities are a major factor in global warming and mandates that member nations reduce their GHG emissions to a level that will not cause environmental harm.
A criticism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement is that many nations have not fulfilled their commitments. Others argue that objective milestones need to be stronger to ensure global temperature reduction. These concerns were demonstrated in November 2022 at the Twenty-Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP27) held in Sharm el-Sheikh. A primary concern was that the objective of preventing a 1.5-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures above pre-industrial levels was not realistic. To accomplish this result, countries would need to achieve a 43 percent reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030 as compared to 2019.
Despite the obstacles faced by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, one of its most positive impacts has been that the issue of climate change is now recognized as a common existential issue in the global community. This has not always been the case. By 2022 more than 198 countries had become signatories to the agreement. The enduring challenge is whether global implementation of policies can be implemented quickly enough to forestall life-altering climatic changes.
Summary of Provisions
Scientific study of the role that GHGs play in regulating the temperature of the Earth has indicated that they contribute to an increase in the atmosphere’s average temperature. Leading up to the Earth Summit, a major point of contention was whether or not the agreement to be negotiated there should contain specific limits on GHG emissions, with the United States arguing against setting such limits. The UNFCCC accepted the premise that anthropogenic GHGs are a major factor causing global warming, said that GHG emissions would be monitored, and established a system for future discussions for specific steps to be taken. Since the UNFCCC did not contain specific limits, the United States agreed and was the first industrialized country to ratify this agreement.
The UNFCCC established three steps toward reducing GHG emissions, in addition to establishing the framework for future negotiations. These included an agreement in principle to reduce GHG emissions to below their 1990 levels, the establishment of a market for trading emission credits, and the creation of a mechanism for industrialized countries to help developing countries acquire low-polluting systems. In addition, Annex I of the convention listed the parties that were industrialized nations, and it committed only those nations to make significant, albeit unspecified, GHG reductions. Developing, non-Annex I parties were given no such commitments. A secretariat was established in Bonn, Germany, to facilitate the implementation of these measures.
The Kyoto Protocol and Implementation
Beginning in 1995, there has been an annual Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC. Following the Kyoto Conference on Greenhouse Gases in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the conference adopted the Kyoto Protocol. It stated that the developed countries must reduce their GHG emissions during the period from 2008 to 2012. The base year for measuring these reductions was 1990. The goals set varied for the developed countries, but the 7 percent reduction assigned to the United States was relatively typical.
The United States signed the protocol under President Clinton, but it was not sent to the Senate for ratification, so it is not binding on the United States. Using the system already established to record the amount of GHGs emitted, so-called Kyoto mechanisms were to be developed in each country to reduce those emissions. The Kyoto Protocol also set the standards for reporting this information to the Climate Change Secretariat. A compliance committee was established to ensure that the goals were met. At each annual COP meeting, issues regarding the implementation of current agreements or proposals for new ones are discussed.
Context
In 1994 not all governments were convinced that human activities were a major factor in global warming. That is no longer the case. The gradual acceptance of this proposition has pushed forward the agenda of controlling GHG emissions. However, this situation falls into the category of being a political problem of the commons: No one country is the cause, nor can any country’s response be a full solution. The more countries act, the better for everyone, so some nations see their ideal response as being to let everyone else work toward the solution, sharing in the benefits without experiencing any costs. This is the mindset that the Earth Summit and the UNFCCC attempted to overcome.
With more than 190 nations as parties, the UNFCCC has overcome the problem of nonparticipation, at least on paper. By this measure, it is one of the most successful venues of international cooperation, with virtually every country in the world as a member. The division of the membership into different categories, with differing responsibilities, has made possible progress toward the goal of reducing global warming. The UNFCCC institutes a system that philosophically resembles a progressive tax system, in which the nations with the greatest economic resources are asked to make the greatest contributions toward reducing GHG emissions.
This division between industrialized and developing nations enables developing nations to continue developing, whereas requiring equal concessions from all nations would reinforce the status quo of economic relations, ensuring that the poor nations would remain poor. This provision has proven crucial to obtaining widespread cooperation. On the other hand, the UNFCCC gives economically developed countries the incentive to develop and use new technologies, which some believe will allow them to continue their economic dominance. Thus, while climate change is a physical change, how it is dealt with has many political and economic consequences.
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