From Kyoto to Paris

The Earth Summit of 1992 held in Rio de Janeiro awakened the consciousness of the world to the danger of climate change. The establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change provided the platform for parties to negotiate on ways of moving forward. The global acknowledgement of the weightiness of the climate change and the future of the planet galvanized international agreements to this regard. Consequently, a landmark agreement was brokered in 1992 at Kyoto, Japan and 2015 in Paris, France. However, the strong issues of national interest tend to bedevil the implementation that would take the world forward on climate change. The chapter therefore examined multilateralism from the platform of climate change conferences and analyzed the political undertone behind disappointing outcomes even when most of the negotiators realized that the only way to salvage the impending doom is a multilateral binding agreement when nation-state can subsume their narrow interest.

UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (UNFCCC) AND ROLE OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Man is a creator and molder of his environment which vests him with physical sustenance and affords him an opportunity for overall growth and development. Development is a perpetual process enabling a man to realize his potentialities to achieve his targets by exploiting natureÂ’s resources. Sustainability is a pattern of socio structural economic transformation which optimizes the benefits without compromising or jeopardizing the interest and potentiality of future generations but ensuring the evolution of a common principle so that human beings can survive for a long time with the natural environment. People are one of nationÂ’s greatest resources for enforcement of environment laws and regulations are intimately related to the natural attributes as citizens are omnipresent, motivated and interested in environment quality. But at present time advanced use of science and technology or of manufacturing process has disturbed the ecological balance. Since 1972 many attempt has been made to reconcile this imbalance. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was an attempt to bring both these elements i.e. use of technology and maintenance of ecological fairness together and try to tackle the issues of sustainable development, environment degradation and climate change effectively. The UNFCCC was an idea which caused all the countries of the world to come together and look for a solution to this world problem. In this paper it has been attempted to understand the effectiveness of UNFCCC with respect to role of United States of America. The author has mentioned two particular conferences of parties which were proved to be two milestone steps for protecting our environment under international legal regime.

Negotiating the Paris Agreement

The 2015 Paris Agreement represents the culmination of years of intense negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Designed to curb climate change, it was negotiated by almost 200 countries who came to the table with different backgrounds, perceptions and interests. As such, the Agreement represents a triumph for multilateralism in a period otherwise characterized by nationalist turns. How did countries reach the historical agreement, and what were the driving forces behind it? This book paints a full picture by providing and analysing multifaceted insider accounts from high-level delegates who represented developed and developing countries, civil society, businesses, the French Presidency, and the UNFCCC Secretariat. In doing so, the book documents not only the negotiation of the Paris Agreement but also the dynamics and factors that shaped it. A better understanding of these dynamics and factors can guide future negotiations and help us solve global challenges.

Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow

Could the future of our planet be decided on Zoom? The feasibility of “online climate negotiations” was the issue the OnCliNe project initially set out to assess. However, experiences over the last 18 months illustrated that many of the diverse activities organised under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could be held online, albeit with challenges. The real question was whether they could be held in ways that increase the effectiveness, inclusiveness and transparency of the UNFCCC process. This report reflects the sentiment of many stakeholders that there is an opportunity to harness the interruption and introspection that the pandemic imposed into a “positive disruption” of the process. If actions taken now can transcend the tendency to return to “business as usual” as soon as circumstances allow, and instead work towards a meaningful transformation of the climate talks, the UNFCCC process can be made more fit for purpose for tackling one of humanity’s greatest challenges. This will require creativity, courage, and active and decisive leadership.

7. Politics of climate change

‘Politics of climate change’ begins by looking at the history of the climate change negotiations, considering key milestones such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Accord, and the Paris Agreement. At the Paris climate meeting in 2015, world leaders agreed that global temperature increase should be kept below 2°C, with an aspirational target of 1.5°C. Despite this agreement, global carbon emissions have continued to rise every year. There are potential flaws in the approach of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We should note the various carbon trading schemes and the UN’s REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programme, which has been subsequently refined as REDD+. What needs to be achieved politically if climate change is to be mitigated?

Energy Efficiency and Urban Climate Adaption

When the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) was held in Madrid, Spain from 2 to 13 December, 2019, there was a great expectation for the Paris Agreement to be implemented smoothly in a very transparent, predictable way [...]

Indian Corporations, Climate Change, and The Law

Climate change is one of the biggest problems that humans have created for the whole of mankind. Discussions on combating climate change have been continuing since last 30 years when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted at the Rio Conference in 1992. Despite this, nothing significant has been achieved so far. Due to public sector’s finite capabilities and increasing footprint of globalization and privatization, the world is rolling its eyes now on the private corporations to take the lead in this fight against climate change. This article will discuss the historic role that these corporations have played since climate change negotiation days, their contribution at present, and the progressive or regressive role they are set to play in future. The special focus of this article will be on analysing the role of Indian corporations and the existing legal framework governing them and its challenges. At the culmination of this article, the author will try to suggest mechanisms to magnify and intensify private sector contribution in combating climate change with minimum friction and maximum accountability and cohesion.

COP and the Cloth: Quantitatively and Normatively Assessing Religious NGO Participation at the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

How much is religion quantitatively involved in global climate politics? After assessing the role of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from a normative perspective, this descriptive, transdisciplinary and unconventional study offers the first comprehensive quantitative examination of religious nongovernmental organizations that formally participate in its annual meetings, the largest attempts to solve the climate crisis through global governance. This study finds that although their numbers are growing, only about 3 percent of registered nongovernmental organizations accredited to participate in the conference are overtly religious in nature—and that more than 80 percent of those faith-based groups are Christian. Additionally, this study finds that religious nongovernmental organizations that participate in the conference are mostly from the Global North. The results call for greater participation of religious institutions in the international climate negotiations in order for society to address the planetary emergency of climate change.

Inclusion of human, ethnic and gender rights in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of Colombia and Peru (in Spanish)

In December 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Five years after the submission the NDC proposals and their initial implementation, signatory countries had to update and share the progress of their NDCs in 2020. This study carried out by Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad, ONAMIAP (National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru) and RRI analyzes the degree that human rights, women’s rights, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants are included in the NDCs of Colombia and Peru, as well as in the processes related to updating them.