International Climate Negotiations
About the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992, with the goal “to protect the climate system for present and future generations.” The full text of the Convention is available on the UNFCCC website: www.unfccc.int
There are 196 parties to the UNFCCC, including the EU Parties to the Convention have agreed to work towards achieving the Convention’s ultimate aim, of stabilising greenhouse gases concentrations in the atmosphere “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”
The decision-making body of the UNFCCC is the Conference of Parties (COP), which meets once a year in December. Different COPs are distinguished by number. The Copenhagen talks, for example, are the 15th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, so they are known as COP15.
United Nations update (4/3/10)
a) UNFCCC news
The UNFCCC has announced that the Ad Hoc working groups will meet for three days from 9-11 April, but further meetings for later in the year are yet to be determined. Parties were asked to provide their thoughts on the need for negotiating time this year. In other news, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer will leave the post from 1st July this year. Suggestions are being made about a possible successor, who is tipped to be from a developing country. Also, there are a few new documents to peruse on the UNFCCC website. This includes a summary of work undertaken at COP15 on the basis of the LCA work here: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/cop16/eng/02.pdf
b) UN to create review panel for IPCC
The UN will create an independent panel of scientists to review the processes of the IPCC, with details to be released this week: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61P1BV20100226. According to Environmental News Service, a report from the review is to be presented to the IPCC Plenary in South Korea in October (see here: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2010/2010-02-26-01.html)
c) Return to where it all began….
The UN will reportedly also be beginning preparations for a Conference on Sustainable Development, (aka “Rio+20”) to be held in Rio de Janiero in 2012, marking twenty years since the landmark Earth Summit from which the UNFCCC (and much more besides) was born. Brazil’s President Lula da Silva first proposed the follow-up to the milestone Earth Summit in 2007 (see here: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=23952&Cr=general&Cr1=debate). For a snap-shot of the original 1992 Earth Summit, see here: http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/enviro.html. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the conference in December last year and a preparatory meeting is set down to begin work on 17th-19th May, in New York.
d) UNEP meeting in Indonesia
The eleventh special session of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Bali last week skimmed under the radar of the Australian press. The formal outcome of the meeting is the Nusa Dua Declaration (available here: http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/md/tema/klima/vedlegg/The-Nusa-Dua-Declaration---Bali-2010.html?id=594183) This is the first landmark declaration to be made by UNEP environment ministers in ten years, and indicates the Ministers’ desire for a “comprehensive outcome” at COP16 in Mexico. During the meeting, Yvo de Boer cautioned that we should set our sights on South Africa in 2011, rather than expecting too much from Mexico. The ENB report from the session (http://www.iisd.ca/download/pdf/enb1684e.pdf) indicates that temperature targets and warmth of reception of the Copenhagen Accord continue to be disputed. The Nusa Dua Declaration will be reported to the General Assembly in October. See the Jakarta Post coverage of the meeting here: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/25/sby-ushers-unep-meet-toward-useful-outcome.html
Beyond the UNFCCC (4/3/10)
a) Update on the Cochabamba Conference
An on-line global referendum has been launched by Bolivia in the lead up to the People’s World Conference on Climate Change. See here: http://portalmre.rree.gov.bo/cumbre/Referendum.aspx. There is an English-language blog for the conference here: http://pwccc.wordpress.com/
b) BASIC news
India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced that the country will fund clean energy development through a levy on coal production and coal imports. According to CE Daily (www.cedaily.com.au), 9.4% of all coal exported from Australia in the 08/09 financial year went to India. The levy is estimated to be around $1.20 per tonne – meaning that money generated by the levy on Australian coal could be in the hundreds of millions – and will go into a National Clean Energy Fund (http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2010-11/bs/speecha.htm). The Chinese, too, are moving forward with their greenhouse abatement program, announcing the preparation of a greenhouse inventory for 2005 and 2008 against which greenhouse limitation goals will be measured. Indonesia has reportedly (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/03/02/indonesia-may-join-basic-g...) also been in conversation with the BASIC four countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) about joining their next coordination meeting – to be held in South Africa in April.
c) Sumatra Forest Carbon Partnership
Australia and Indonesia have announced a new project in their Forest Carbon Partnership, this time in the province of Jambi in Sumatra. The initiative was jointly announced by the two Governments this week, and appears to target avoiding deforestation in the heavily forested region. It appears that this is the same project which the countries jointly announced in January (see here: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/06/australia-helps-redd-projects-jambi.html) At that time, a representative of the Indonesian Forestry Ministry said that projects under the Jambi partnership will help “to calculate the total carbon volume that can be stored in production, protected, conservation and communal forests if the REDD deal is made” though the media release from Climate Change Minister Penny Wong indicates that the projects will focus on “addressing the main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation.” It was also reported in January that this was the first time that REDD projects would occur on communal forest land. The total funding available through the Forest Carbon Partnership with Indonesia is now $70 million dollars.
About the Kyoto Protocol
Go to CANA's background page on the Kyoto Protocol (note that some of this information pre-dates Australia's ratification -- dates of authoring are given in most cases.)
About the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC Reports: All the IPCC Summary for Policy Makers reports (Science, Impacts & Adaptation, and Mitigation) can be downloaded from the IPCC website www.ipcc.ch
What are other countries doing?
Lots of countries around the world are taking action to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Up to date information about global greenhouse gas emissions can be accessed through the World Resources Institute's Climate Analysis Indicator Tool (CAIT) -- CAIT can help you understand which sectors create emissions in which countries.
If you want to find out the latest on the emissions reduction commitments and proposed actions since the Copenhagen climate talks, see our page on the Copenhagen Accord.
Useful resources on the UNFCCC negotiations
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Oxfam Australia’s Suffering the Science on the human impact of climate change is available here
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Oxfam Australia’s Hang Together or Separately? on global effort sharing is available here
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A Copenhagen Climate Treaty, by international NGOs available here
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World Resource Institute’s analysis of comparability of effort in developed country pledges for emissions cuts
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World Resources Institute on why finance matters at Copenhagen
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The Climate Institute’s Low Carbon Competitiveness report
