Transcript United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change

Cambio Climático y Liderazgo Ambiental
Cursos de Verano Aranjuez 2008
Fundación Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
La convención marco de Naciones Unidas sobre cambio climático:
desarrollo actual y tendencias futuras
Dr Danilo Mollicone
Investigador Ramón y Cajal
Departamento de Geografía
Colaborador del IPCC
Human induced emissions
Human induced emissions per Countries
Global CO2 emissions in 2003
The beginning
1979 - 1st World Climate Conference
“Our Common Future” or “Brundtland
Report” UN World Commission on
Environment and Development - 1987
1988 – IPCC established
1990 – IPCC and WCC call for global
treaty on climate change
1992 Earth Summit
- Agenda 21
- Rio Declaration
United Nation
Framework Convention on
Climate Change
Convention on
Biological Diversity
Sustainable
development
United Nation
Convention to
Combat Desertification
United Nation
Forest Forum
UNFCCC PRINCIPLES
Equity
The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future
generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with
their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.
Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating
climate change and the adverse effects thereof.
Precautionary
The Parties should take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or
minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects. Where
there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty
should not be used as a reason for postponing such measures, taking into
account that policies and measures to deal with climate change should be costeffective so as to ensure global benefits at the lowest possible cost. To achieve
this, such policies and measures should take into account different socio-economic
contexts, be comprehensive, cover all relevant sources, sinks and reservoirs of
greenhouse gases and adaptation, and comprise all economic sectors.
UNFCCC OBJECTIVE
The ultimate objective of this Convention and any related
legal instruments that the Conference of the Parties may
adopt is to achieve, in accordance with the relevant
provisions of the Convention, stabilization of greenhouse
gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference
with the climate system. Such a level should be
achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow
ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to
ensure that food production is not threatened and to
enable economic development to proceed in a
sustainable manner.
UNFCCC process
Convention on Climate Change
- text on 09 May1992
- entered into force on 21 March 1994
Kyoto Protocol
- text on 11 December 1997
1st commitment period
2008-2012
- entered into force on 16 Febr. 2005
Domestic
actions
Clean
Development
Mechanism
Joint
Implementation
Emission
Trading
“flexibility mechanisms”
UNFCCC Structure
UNFCCC process
Participation in the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol:
"The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under which industrialized countries
will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2%
compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels
that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this limitation
represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions of six
greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur
hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons - averaged over
the period of 2008-2012. National limitations range from 8% reductions for
the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0%
for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for
Iceland
UNFCCC process
The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement negotiated as an amendment to
UNFCCC, its provisions apply mainly to developed countries
Kyoto Protocol main principles:
- Mandatory targets:
Any Annex I country that fails to meet its Kyoto
obligation will be penalized by having to submit 1.3 emission allowances in a second
commitment period for every ton of greenhouse gas emissions they exceed their cap in
the first commitment period (i.e., 2008-2012)
- Additionality:
actions to mitigate climate change should be supported through
new funds (e.g. ordinary fund for international cooperation should not be used to
develop CDM projects)
- “right to emit”:
developed countries will receive “carbon credit” (the Assigned
Allocation Units, AAUs or “allowances”) at the beginning of the commitment period but
they will have to demonstrate that they are in compliance with their emission reduction
targets, while the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow
to meet their social and development needs.
Technical arrangements
The Climate Change Convention and its Kyoto Protocol
are land based agreement
Technical arrangements
• All Parties have to submit to UNFCCC Secretariat national
communications on policies and measures adopted to mitigate climate
change
• All Annex-1 Parties have to submit annually to UNFCCC Secretariat a
GHGs inventory
• Inventories should be transparent, consistent, comparable, complete
and accurate
• Inventories should be prepared using comparable methodologies
agreed upon by COP (COP/MOP) i.e. IPCC guidelines & guidance
UNFCCC process
At the present stage the Kyoto Protocol
is unable to stabilize the climate change
but the KP is a fundamental step in order to recognize new
“property” rights and limits, and new framework rules on
common use of the natural resources.
Anyway the Kyoto Protocol is only a first step as
requirements to meet the UNFCCC will be modified until the
objective is met, as required by UNFCCC Article 4.2
Negotiation on future actions are already going
“Dialogue on long-term cooperative actions to
enhance implementation of the Convention”
Future actions
-Large target on emission reduction
- Inclusion of developing countries
trough positive incentives
- Reducing emission from
deforestation in developing countries
Forests in Carbon Markets
How to reduce emissions
The Political background
„Alle reden von Deutschland. Wir reden vom Klima.“
"Everyone is talking about Germany; we're talking about climate!"
With this slogan the German green party loose the general political election
in 1990 but prepared German society to climate change negotiations
The Political background
What about USA?
Clinton immediately after the agreement in Kyoto:
"No nation is more committed to this effort than the United States. In Kyoto,
our mission was to persuade other nations to find common ground so we
could make realistic and achievable commitments to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. That mission was accomplished. The United States delegation,
at the direction of Vice President [Al] Gore, and with the skilled leadership
of Undersecretary Stuart Eizenstat, showed the way. The momentum
generated by Vice President Gore's visit helped move the negotiation to a
successful conclusion and I thank him.
The Kyoto Protocol strongly reflects the commitment of the United
States to use the tools of the free market to tackle this difficult
problem"
The Political background
The negotiation for the Kyoto Protocol where mainly a discussion
between Europe and the Umbrella Group
Carbon tax VS 'cap and trade'
---Environmental integrity VS flexibility / low cost
The Political background
In 2000 during COP6 in the Hauge in
Netherland, technical negotiations on
Kyoto Protocol failed. The COP was
closed without an agreement. The
main breaking point between EU and
the Umbrella Group was “how to
account for removals” (forest ang
agriculture sink)
Eucaliptus plantations
The Political background
During COP6 in the Hauge a new actor
took the leadership in negotiation, John
Prescott UK Head of Delegation and UK
Deputy Prime Minister broken the EU
protocol defining Mrs. Voynet, Head of EU
Delegation and French Ministry of
Environment, as “too tired to reach an
agreement”.
UK guided UE in COP6 bis and brought
everybody to the Marrakesh Agreement
Probably English people
remember better than any other
the effects of the Little Ice Age
(an interesting description of life in
London during the little ice age could be
find in the Virginia Woolf romance
“Orlando”)
Winter landscape with ice skaters, c. 1608,
Hendrick Avercamp.
The Political background
Mitigation vs Adaptation
The Stern Review (a
UK
government
sponsored report into
the economic impacts
of climate change)
concluded that one
percent of global GDP
is required to be
invested in order to
mitigate the effects of
climate change, and
that failure to do so
could risk a recession
worth up to twenty
percent of global GDP.
The Political background
Although Kyoto created a framework and a set of rules for a global carbon market,
there are in practice several distinct schemes or markets in operation today, with
varying degrees of linkages among them. The KP enables a group of several Annex I
countries to join together to create a market-within-a-market:
- EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
- UK ETS
- also voluntary markets are developing like: New South Wales Greenhouse Gas
Abatement Scheme, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Western Climate
Initiative in the United States, the Chicago Climate Exchange and the State of
California’s recent initiative to reduce emissions
The Kyoto Protocol market valued
at about $60 billion in 2007
The Political background
To obtain the new “Copenhagen Protocol”,
it is necessary a consensus among all Parties
New actors
EU +
other
China
Copenhagen
Protocol
USA +
other
G77
• Ready for
commitments
India +
Brazil
Developin
g
countries
• Not ready for
commitments
• Waiting for
some
substantial
help
The Political background
The Bali Action Plan
During last COP in December 2007 there were two main agenda items:
the calendar to the next protocol and the inclusion of reducing emission
from deforestation as one activities in the future actions.
Now let go in the real negotiation world…..
http://www.un.org/webcast/unfccc/2007/index.asp?go=071215
All UNFCCC document are
available on internet.
Other important information
source
are
the
“Earth
Negotiation
Bulletin”
at
www.iisd.org or the ECO
and the Fossil of the Day of
Climate Action Network
Floating bicycle park in Malmo railway station, Sweden
Gracias
por su
atención