Climate change conferences

Rio Earth Summit 1992

Held from the 3rd - 14th June The first international conference on the subject of climate change and established the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) Had no legally binding targets but had a plan of action for sustainable development.

Climate change

8 of the uk's 10 warmest years have occurred since 2002.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

An international environmental treaty adopted 1992 and opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio. Objective is to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".[3] The framework sets no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms.

Annex 1 countries

Developed economies and 'economies in transition.'

Sustainable development

Economic development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources.

Copenhagen 2009

Held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen between 7th - 18th December. The Copenhagen accord recognized the need to keep temperatures below 2C but did not state any ways of commitment or targets. The agreement also pledged $30 billion to the developing world over the next three years to help poor countries adapt to climate change. Furthermore, the agreement also stated that developed countries should pay developing countries to reduce emissions; this was known as 'REDD.' Throughout 2010, 138 countries had either formally signed up or signaled that they would. Despite widely held expectations that the Copenhagen summit would produce a legally binding treaty, the conference only resulted in negotiating deadlock and therefore, the 'Copenhagen Accord,' which was not legally binding or enforceable. Countries such as India and Association of Island States made it clear that they believed that the Copenhagen Accord could not replace negotiations within the UN FCCC.

Durban 2011

Held from 28th November - 11 December to establish a new treaty to limit carbon emissions. This agreement, referred to as the 'Durban platform,' is notable in that for the first time it includes developing countries such as China and India and includes a continuation of the Kyoto protocol. The terms of the future treaty are to be defined by 2015 and become effective in 2020. Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace International said: 'Right now the global climate regime amounts to nothing more than a voluntary deal that's put off for a decade. This could take us over the 2C threshold were we pass from danger to potential catastrophe.' As well as this, German media critised the outcome as 'almost useless,' saying the pledges are vague and the time is slow, the main merit being that the talks have been kept alive.

Warsaw 2013

Held from the 11th - 23rd November and ran over by a day thanks to heated debate and negotiation. Eventually, member states agreed to work towards curbing emissions as soon as possible, with an idea date targeted at the first quarter of 2015. No targets were set financially for the rest of the decade and the Warsaw Mechanism was proposed which would provide expertise and possibly aid, to developing nations to cope with loss and damage from such natural extremities as heatwaves, droughts and floods as well as rising sea levels and desertification. WWF, Oxfam, ActionAid, the International Trade Union Confederation, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace walked out of the conference and all six released a statement that said they wished to withdraw from the Warsaw climate talks because, 'The Warsaw climate conference which should have been an important step in the just transition to a sustainable future, is on track to deliver virtually nothing.'

Cancun 2010

Held from the 29th of November - 10th December and is referred to as COP 16. Following the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, international expectations for the COP16 conference were reduced. The outcome was an agreement which called on rich countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and for developing countries to plan to reduce their emissions so that global warming can be limited to less than 2C. The agreement includes a proposed $100 billion a year fund to assist poorer countries finance emission reduction. The New York Times said the agreement was a 'major step forward.' The New York Times described the agreement, also as being 'fairly modest,' as it did not contain the changes that scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous climate change. The agreement has also be critised for not providing leadership, for not specifying how the proposed climate fund will be financed, and for not stating that countries had to 'peak' their emissions within 10 years and then rapidly reduce them for there to be any chance to avert warming.

The Kyoto Protocol 1997

Set binding targets for developed states to limit and reduce their emissions. Also established the 'cap and trade' mechanism whereby emissions levels could be traded between nations. Criticism of emissions trading include the idea that it creates loopholes that big polluters can exploit to maintain their fossil fuel usage at the expense of non-Annex 1 countries. The Kyoto first-round commitments were described as 'modest' and seen as acting as a constraint on the treaties effectiveness.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC is an international panel of scientists and researchers that advises on climate change and reports back to the UN. It was established in 1988 to assess scientific research and literature concerning the risks of anthropocentric climate change, its impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation. The first time that there was political involvement in the response to climate change.

Paris 2015

The pact is the first to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions. All countries should aim to reduce emissions and produce a target which is the binding part of the agreement. The voluntary part is that the target is not binding. The agreement included keeping global temperature increase 'well below' 2C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C. This progress would be reviewed every 5 years. This is the first time there has been a specific agreement to the temperature being lowered below 2C. US President Barack Obama has hailed the agreement as "ambitious" and "historic." $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020 with a commitment to further finance in the future. The US may be more eager in 2015 to get agreement on climate change because Obama knew he was at the end of his term and wished to make progress internationally. The Americans therefore pushed this as Obama had failed in Copenhagen.

Trump and Paris

Trump has announced that the US will not uphold its agreement to the 2016 Paris climate agreement. To be clear, he hasn't said that he will categorically pull out, but that he wants to renegotiate to gain a better economic deal for the US as he believes that it disadvantages them and benefits their competitors (China, possibly). Remember that he has previously said that global warming is a theory concocted by the Chinese to get the West to limit their own economic growth. I think this is unlikely, however, and it seems that Trump is preparing the ground for the US to pull out completely, especially as France and Germany have both said that renegotiation is not an option.