Climate negotiations in the UN
The UN’s climate convention - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - serves as the framework for the global climate negotiations. Under the UNFCCC there are two major climate agreements, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997 by 192 countries making it the first internationally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2015, the Parties to UNFCCC adopted the Paris Agreement.
The Parties to the UNFCCC meet once a year at the Conference of the Parties (COP). The COP is the governing body of the UNFCCC. Likewise the governing bodies of the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) and the Paris Agreement (CMP) meet at the COP. At the COP, all the decisions are made – often with media attention from all around the world. At COP21 in Paris in December 2015, Parties agreed on a new, legally binding agreement on climate change – The Paris Agreement. The agreement sets out three long term goals:
- Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
- Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production.
- Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.
In addition, the Agreement recognizes that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. This includes aiming at a peak in global greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible with a rapid decrease of emissions subsequently, in order to achieve a balance between emissions and sinks in the second half of this century.