United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change Essay

“After ten days of tough negotiations, ministers and other high-level officials from 160 countries reached an agreement this morning on a legally binding Protocol under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2%. The agreement aims to lower overall emissions from a group of six greenhouse gases by 2008-12, calculated as an average over these five years.” (UNFCCC, 2011)

The climate change impacts of greenhouse gases threaten the economic development and environmental quality. These threats indicate that all nations regardless their economic growth should work collaboratively to reduce the emission to a certain level. Hare et al. (2011) argued that “climate change is a collective action problem” thus requires a global coordination from all countries. This indicates that actions from several countries would never be sufficient to address the climate change problem. If a global target to limit warming to 2°C or below is about to achieve (UNFCCC 2010, p.4) a broad range of participation is required (Hare et al., 2011). However, the increasing complexity of negotiation processes is inevitable. Each country will pursue its own interests during the

Regardless of the people who do and do not believe in global warming, climate change is a pressing issue that has been accepted scientifically and politically for the past few decades. Although seemingly insignificant, a global temperature increase of 2°C is enough for worldwide pandemonium. To mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, nation leaders have gathered to settle and promise a fixed reduction in their country’s carbon emissions; the target emission level will cause an increase of only 1.5°C. Prominent examples include the Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord, with the most recent being the Paris Agreement. Nevertheless, disappointing carbon emission results from the Kyoto Protocol

To make a substantive and significant deal on climate change, there is a need to integrate various parties that focus on the issue. United Nations (UN) is one of the leading parties in the world that make fundamental and major deals on climate change. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the UN’s arm that carries out climate change negotiations. The UNFCCC is committed to a decarbonized the world through its commitment to 40-70% reductions in carbon emissions by 2050 (UNFCCC, 2014). However, this can only be achieved if all countries phase out fossil fuels and rapidly scale up the usage of

Across 800,000 years of data of Earth’s atmosphere, carbon dioxide levels at record highs, and being added daily, have already begun disrupting established climate patterns and damaging ecosystems upon which nearly all living things depend (CTC). Tremendous and rapid reductions of carbon emissions in the United States, and developed nations around the world, are essential to avoid runaway climate damage and minimize severe weather events. Inundation of coastal cities and islands, infrastructure destruction, failure of agriculture and water supply, forced migrations, political upheavals, and international conflict are among the devastating and costly side effects of climate change, many of which have already begun to be seen (CTC). Enacting a transparent and equitable tax on carbon dioxide emissions is imperative to hand over a sustainable Earth and habitable climate for future generations. A robust tax on carbon would provide compelling incentives to reduce emissions and pollution through conservation, substitution, and innovation (Sutter). The carbon tax is also a crucial policy tool for achieving the “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” (INDC’s) to which the 193 countries that signed the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015 committed to in effort to prevent global warming from reaching two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels (CTC).

1. POLICY DECISION AND OBJECTIVES. The 2015 National Security Strategy (NSS) identifies climate change as a top strategic risk and seeks “to shape standards for prevention, preparedness, and response over the next decade”. On 3 September 2016, the United States (U.S.) and China ratified the 2015 United Nations (UN) Paris Agreement on climate change. A month later, the European Union (EU) followed suit, building international momentum to combat climate change. The President of the United States (POTUS) released, Presidential Memorandum – Climate Change and National Security on 21 September 2016. It directs Federal agencies to consider climate change impacts in all national security doctrine, policies, and plans. To maintain momentum into the next administration, the memorandum also requires agencies to specify climate change consideration objectives, milestones, and timelines by 21 December 2016 and to provide an implementation plan by 21 February 2017.

Still on the successes of building up a momentum for action, the climate agreement conveyed the collaboration of a broad set of actors to strengthen the commitments. The top-down approach of relying on national governments as leaders for climate response is now being reframed towards a more inclusive space for action. Much

Robert Falkner’s article “The Paris Agreement and the New Logic of International Climate Politics” analyzes the goals and the politics of the Paris Agreement. It begins with an examination of international climate politics in both the 2009 Copenhagen Accord and the 2015 Paris Agreement. Next, the article summarizes the main elements of the Paris Agreement, followed by an analysis of how well the 2015 agreement would work and what its limitations are. Finally, Falkner concludes with an outlook on possibilities for future of climate change and the landscape of international climate change politics. I believe this is a well written, well-rounded article that provides a good deal of information on the Paris Agreement and goes into a little history of international efforts to control climate change. It will be a valuable source for my research paper.

In December 2015, 197 nations convened in Paris to sign an agreement to help shrink the effects of climate change. The main goal all of these nations agreed to was to reduce the global temperature below two degrees Celsius. Lowering Carbon emissions is the best way for countries to go about reaching their goal. This of course is a lofty one considering the current temperature levels, which have reached around half of the target already (1.5 degrees) (Domonoske). The key to reaching their two-degree limit was to have each individual country set certain goals based on their CO2 emissions. For example, countries

Starting from the Kyoto protocol and culminating in the 2011 Durban agreement, world leaders have put into motion, a coordinated effort to save the world through concerted actions by their countries to reduce the carbon emissions. The reason for this agreement was the perspective that the world will not survive at the rate of the present emissions. Hence, the World Congress is has no option but to act strongly on these lines. The Kyoto protocol has extracted promises from the member nations about the extent to which they will guarantee to reduce carbon emissions by the year 2020. The experts are continuously calculating the impact of global warming on diverse situations in life, while the businessmen are calculating how it will impact their strategies for the future (Alen, D.S., 2012).

One of the greatest threats to humankind present in the 21st century is climate change. Human behavior, especially since industrial revolution led “over 600 thousand tons of carbon to be emitted into the atmosphere from fossil fuels” which thus enhanced greenhouse affects, and alters the natural cycle of global warming and cooling. The consequence of such alteration has devastating effects globally as drastic “temperature increases experienced in the recent years are causing widespread damages” . Effects of climate change not only helps deteriorate the biome as “quarter of all species could be pushed to extinction by 2050” , but also poses a large threat to “living conditions and challenges existing patterns of energy use and security” Given that climate change is one of the most pressing issues experienced in the modern era “there has been little progress in the United Nations (UN) led climate negotiations” . The reason as to why states cannot come to a consensus on international climate change policy is because states reside in an anarchic international system in which states are by nature: conflictual, self-interested and focused on attaining relative gain as shown through neo-realist theory. In ability for states to negotiate a climate change action plan will be shown through states’ pursuit of relative gains in the Kyoto Protocol, the role of economic growth in terms of relative gains, and climate change lag/ state’s personal agendas, which have led to numerous

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was opened for signature in June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where it was signed by 155 States and the European Union (EU), was then entered into force on 21 March 1994 having been approved by 193 States and the EU as of January 2011. This Framework Convention on Climate Change acts as an alliance to mediate disagreement involving many parties and lays the groundwork for successful agreements.

The Paris Agreement, at the Conference of Parties 21 (COP 21) aimed to limit average rise in global surface temperatures to ‘well below 2 Degrees Celsius (C)’ above pre industrial levels . The question is how can this lofty target be achieved? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) predicts an overshoot of atmospheric concentrations of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) beyond 450 parts per million (ppm) in the near future; and suggests that to rectify this, substantial emission reductions and wide spread deployment of bio energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) along with other NETs will be required by the second half of the 21st century .

Founded on the belief that humans are ultimately responsible for global warming, the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 and made effective in 2005 with the aim of reducing national quantitative greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% (compared with emissions in 1990) in industrialised countries worldwide. This would equate to a 29% cut overall by 2010. The protocol intends to specifically reduce global emissions of “carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, HFCs and PFCs” (www.kyotoprotocol.com). The protocol was later revised in its second commitment period stating that an 18% cut (compared with 1990) in emissions between 2013-2020 would be its next target. The Kyoto Protocol created “three market-based mechanisms...known as the ‘carbon market’” to support its targets (UNFCCC). These mechanisms covered emissions trading, the clean development mechanism (CDM) and joint implementation. Combined, the mechanisms are geared towards encouraging sustainable development using technology and investment, reducing emissions in an economically viable way and stimulating developing countries to reduce their emissions too. International cooperation was essential for the Kyoto Protocol to be enforced and achieve its aims. As the protocol seeks to reduce greenhouse emissions globally, efforts are needed from all industrialised countries emitting harmful gases into the Earth’s atmosphere. Without adequate participation

From melting glaciers to devastating storms and stranded polar bears, the mascots of climate change show how rapidly the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are changing the planet. Such examples, in addition with the rising price of energy, drive people to want to reduce consumption and lower their personal shares of global emissions. In the 1990s, almost every member state of the United Nations resolved to confront global warming and manage its consequences. Thus the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) international treaty recognized a unified resolve to curb global warming. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol strengthened the convention. The process of cutting the carbon is a complex business and not all hybrid design would be a success in regard to uncertainties and political lobbying involved. The regulation of the government, participation of the industry and other participants can make the system effective over a certain time span.