UNFCCC and the Famous COPs

UNFCCC: Relevance

• GS 3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

 

What is UNFCCC?

• The UNFCCC (for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) is the United Nations based framework that support the global response to the threat of climate change.
• It was signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
• The original secretariat was in Geneva. Since 1995, the secretariat has been located in Bonn, Germany.
• The Convention has near universal membership (197 Parties) and is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement and 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
• UNFCCC established an international environmental treaty to combat “dangerous human interference with the climate system”, in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
• UNFCCC treaty is considered a legally non-binding agreement.

What is Conference of the Parties (COP)?

• Article 7.2 of the convention defines the COP as the “supreme body” of the Convention, as it is its highest decision-making authority. The climate change process revolves around the annual sessions of the COP.

 

Timeline of important COPs

 

UNFCCC COPs	Year	Venue	Landmark decisions
UNFCCC COP 1	1995	Berlin, Germany	—
UNFCCC COP 3	1997	Kyoto, Japan	Kyoto protocol adopted
UNFCCC COP 7	2001	Marrakesh, Morocco	Marrakesh Accords—the most detailed outline of the rules and procedures for the functioning of the global carbon market instruments like International Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation
UNFCCC COP 8	2002	New Delhi, India	Delhi Declaration:  focussed on the development needs of the poorest countries and the need for transfer of technology to mitigate climate change.
UNFCCC COP11/CMP1	2005	Montreal, Canada	First session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
UNFCCC COP13	2007	Bali, Indonesia	Bali Road Map and Bali action plan:  charing the way for a post-2012 outcome.
UNFCCC COP 14	2008	Poznan, Poland	Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol launched.
UNFCCC COP15	2009	Copenhagen, Denmark	Copenhagen Accord drafted.  A five nation accord between US and BASIC countries (India, China, Brazil and South Africa).  Developed countries promised to provide $30 billion for the period 2010-12 and to mobilize long term finance of further $100 billion a year by 2020.
UNFCCC COP 16	2010	Cancun, Mexico	Green Climate Fund (GCF) established to assist developing nations in dealing with climate change.  GCF was intended to raise climate finance of $ 100 billion by 2020.
UNFCCC COP 17	2011	Durban, South Africa	A new commitment to form a universal climate change agreement by 2015 for the period beyond 2020. This agreement effectively resulted in the Paris Agreement of 2015.
UNFCCC COP 18	2012	Doha, Qatar	Doha Agreement: Agreement to extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol.  Climate Technology Centre (CTC) was established as an implementation arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism.
UNFCCC COP 19	2013	Warsaw, Poland	Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) term was coined here.
UNFCCC COP 20	2014	Lima, Peru	National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) should be prepared by the government. Launch of NAZCA Climate Action Portal.
UNFCCC COP 21	2015	Paris, France	Paris Agreement adopted. Global Stocktake to be created every 5 years to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Paris Agreement.
UNFCCC COP 22	2016	Marrakech, Morocco	Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA) was launched at the Conference.  Deliberations on “Orphan Issues”.
UNFCCC COP 23	2017	Bonn, Germany. (Chaired by Fiji)	Gender Action Plan was launched. Ocean Pathway Partnership was launched, Talanoa Dialogue, Powering Past Coal Alliance.
UNFCCC COP 24	2018	Katowice, Poland	——
UNFCCC COP 25	2019	Madrid, Spain	Establishment of Santiago Network.
UNFCCC COP 26	2021	Glasgow, UK	Glasgow summit

 

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