The United Nations Climate Change Conference is being held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29th November to 10th December, 2010 to discuss future commitments for industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol. The “Kyoto” is a widely referred word in the “climate change reporting in electronic and print media” and brings variety of interpretations related to buzz words - global warming and climate change- in the minds of the general masses. This article is an attempt to list the chronology of the conferences/events on the world stage which eventually lead to Kyoto Protocol – the future of which will be negotiated at Cancun, Mexico.
The first of the major conferences was held under the aegis of the UN at Rio de Janerio, Brazil from 3 June to 14 June 1992. It was called The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, or more popularly the Earth Summit. An important achievement of the Earth Summit was showcasing of an international treaty: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The objective of the treaty is to stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations (which are responsible for global warming) in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system. Neither does the treaty specify any mandatory limits to be complied by the countries joining it nor does it set any enforcement mechanisms. The UNFCCC was opened for signature on May 9, 1992, after an intergovernmental negotiating committee produced the text of the framework convention as a report following its meeting in New York from April 30 to May 9, 1992. It entered into force on March 21, 1994. India signed the UNFCCC on 10 June 1992 and ratified it on 1 November 1993. Currently, the UNFCCC has 194 parties as signatories. The parties ratifying the treaty are called - “parties to the convention”. The parties have been divided in three categories according to differing commitments:
1. Annex I countries: industrialized countries and economies in transition
2. Annex II countries: Developed countries which pay th1e cost of developing countries
3. Non-Annex countries: Developing countries
Since 1995, the parties to the convention started conducting regular annual meetings in what has come to be known as Conference of the Parties (COP). It was in COP 3 at Kyoto, Japan that after the intensive negotiations an international and legally binding agreement– The Kyoto Protocol (KP) – was adopted on 11 December 1997. The KP came into force on 16 February, 2005 after detailed rules and regulations were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh (Morocco) in 2001- the so called Marrakesh Accord. The major features of the KP is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European Union to reduce its GHG emissions by five percent against the 1990 levels during the five year period from 2008-2012.
How are these countries achieving these targets? They are supposed to meet these targets through their nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA). The KP proposes three market based mechanisms to help these countries achieve their targets. The mechanisms are as follows:
1. Emissions trading: This is also popularly known as carbon trading. This has made GHG emissions a new market commodity. As mentioned above, the industrialized countries have accepted the targets of reducing their GHG emissions over the period of 2008-2012. They have been given the Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) meaning the level of allowed emission during the period of commitment. If a country has spare AAUs – that is emissions permitted but not used- then the country can trade the extra AAUs with a country or countries which are over their targets. The trading of these of these units is done through the registry system developed under the KP.
2. Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM): This mechanism allows the private/public organization in Annex I countries to invest in GHG reduction projects in developing countries. In return the investing parties earn a saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2 which can be counted towards meeting the Kyoto targets.
An example of CDM project is Hybrid renewable energy project in Rajasthan implemented by Australia. It constructed world's largest solar steam cooking system for preparing meals for around 10,000 people has been installed at Taleti, near Mount Abu, Rajasthan, by the Brahmakumari's organization (Brahmakumari's Academy for a Better World) under a special demonstration project of the MNES, Government of India. The system employs automatic tracking solar dish concentrators, which convert water into high-pressure steam. The steam thus generated is being used for cooking purposes in the kitchen of the ashram
3. Joint Implementation(JI): JI allows a country with emission reduction commitment to earn emission reduction units from emission reduction project in another Annex I party each equivalent to one tonne of CO2 which can be counted towards meeting the Kyoto targets.
The commitment period of the KP viz. 2008-2012 is soon approaching to an end and hence the importance of the meetings held at Copenhagen in 2009 and the one which is going on in Cancun (Mexico) and those which will be held in Durban (South Africa) in 2011, and Qatar or South Korea in 2012.
The COP 15 was at Copenhagen, Denmark from 7-18 December, 2009 to discuss on various questions like should the KP be extended further for the second commitment period? Should the new treaty be a under the aegis of the UNFCCC which also addresses the emission targets of the countries which are not party to the KP? What about the role of the developing countries and emerging economies like Brazil, South Africa, India, and China? The meeting at Copenhagen was always intended to be to resolve the post 2012 scenario – a view reflected in unofficial slogan for the conference, “seal the deal”. However it saw all the colors of environmental politics which has resulted in just two and a half page political accord rather than a legal one. The Cancun meeting is planned to resolve the post 2012 deadlock.
The key points in the Copenhagen accord are as follows: The accord recognizes climate change as one of the greatest challenges of our time and emphasizes on strong political will to combat climate change through common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities to achieve the ultimate objective to stabilize green house gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent “dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system”. The accord does subscribe to the scientific view that the increase in the temperature should be below 2oC and agrees on the fact that “deep cuts” in global emissions are required as mentioned in the IPCC report but there is no quantitative mention of the “deep cuts” in the level of emissions those are to be achieved, to meet the challenge of keeping the temperatures below 2oC. The COP 15 also received strong objection from the developing countries to setting the target date for the peaking of their emissions as proposed in the COP 13 (known as Bali Action Plan) and also received resistance to the adoption of global emission targets as this would have direct impact on their economies.
The Copenhagen accord gives leverage to the Annex I parties (developed countries and economies in transition) to define its own target levels, base year, and accounting rules and submit the targets to the UNFCCC secretariat in a prescribed format. This commits them to implement the prescribed targets subject to international monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV). As far as developing countries are concerned the NAMA is also subject to international measurement, review, and verification. There is also a proposal to establish a “matching mechanism” to link developing countries proposal to the financial support by the developed countries.
The accord has very briefly touched other issues such as financial assistance to be given to developing countries to reduce GHG emission, forestry, adaptation, MRV. However it failed in taking the legal form. Hence it continues to be legally non binding accord. The countries were given the option to associate themselves with accord by informing the UNFCCC secretariat for inclusion in the list of the chapeau. Till today 114 parties have agreed to the Copenhagen Accord and another 26 countries have shown their wish to be listed in the chapeau.
There are many loopholes to be fitted in the Copenhagen Accord – the most important being the legal binding of the protocol. It is to sort out the differences and discuss future commitments for industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol the world is looking at the Cancun conference.
Reference:
1. http://unfccc.int
2. The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference: A Post, Mortem by Daniel Bodansky
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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