Lesson 2A: The UNFCCC
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force in 1994. At present, there are 193 State Parties to the UNFCCC. Under the UNFCCC, State Parties have the following binding obligations:
According to “their common but differentiated responsibilities”:
Publish emissions of greenhouse gases.
Create national and/or regional policies to mitigate against climate change and adapt to the effects of climate change. Additionally, State Parties are required to incorporate climate change considerations in all aspects of their legal, legislative, and regulatory policies.
Lesson 2A: The UNFCCC
Promote technology and information transfer, especially in industries that are involved in greenhouse gas emissions.
Promote and cooperate in education, training and public awareness related to climate change and encourage the widest participation in this process, including that of non-governmental organizations”
Developed countries that are State Parties are required to adopt policies that will result in a reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, developed country State Parties are required to provide financial assistance to developing countries that seek to fulfill their greenhouse gas emissions requirements.
Lesson 2B: State Party Responses to UNFCCC
In response to State Party obligations under the UNFCCC, a number of State Parties, particularly least developed countries, have completed and submitted National Adaptation Programmes of Action, which identify the ways in which these States plan to adapt to the effects of climate change across many policy levels. These plans include legal changes and regulations that are geared toward helping the State adapt to climate change.
Building on the responsibilities set out in the UNFCCC, the State Parties enacted the Kyoto Protocol in order to further the legal goals of the UNFCCC.
Lesson 2C: The Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005. At present, there are 190 State Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Kyoto Protocol, State Parties have the following binding obligations:
Developed countries are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions – including carbon – to set percentages of their 1990 emission rates.
Lesson 2C: The Kyoto Protocol
In order to meet these goals, a carbon trading system framework was created under the Kyoto Protocol. Included in this framework are the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), mechanisms through which developed states can earn additional carbon credits for funding clean projects that assist developing or other developed countries in meeting their carbon emissions targets.
Additionally, the State Party responsibilities to monitor and implement national and local laws related to climate change, as set out in the UNFCCC, are stressed and amplified. Again, these requirements are subject to the common but differentiated responsibilities standard that was used in the UNFCCC.
Lesson 2C: Joint Implementation
Article 6 of the Kyoto protocol describes joint implementation between Annex 1 countries in these words: “For the purpose of meeting its commitments under Article 3, any Party included in Annex 1 may transfer to, or acquire from, any other such party emission reduction units resulting from projects aimed at reducing anthropogenic emissions by sources or enhancing anthropogenic removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in any sector of the economy…”
Lesson 2D: The Clean Development Mechanisms
Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol establishes a clean development mechanism which objective is to “assist Parties not included in Annex 1 in achieving sustainable development and in contributing to the ultimate objective of the Convention and to assist Parties included in Annex 1 in achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments…”
Lesson 2D: The Clean Development Mechanisms
This mechanism thus allows:
This mechanism thus allows:
The Parties not in Annex 1 and that are not yet engaged in quantified reductions of GHG to benefit from activities executed within their territories which will translate into certified emissions reduction.
The Annex 1 parties to use the certified emissions reduction thus obtained to fulfill their engagement.
The CDM follows a logic of compensation, which supposes that the credited emissions reductions are real, quantifiable and link to a specific operation.
Lesson 2E: Carbon Sinks: A Controversial Topic
Another disputed question is whether, within the CDM, only projects reducing GHG emissions will be credited or if projects which remove existing or future carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, such as reforestation, should also be included.
Although joint implementation within the Annex 1 countries, as mentioned in Article 6 of the Protocol, includes “ any such projects provides a reduction in emissions by sources, or an enhancement of removals by sinks…”, the inclusions of sequestration projects is an ongoing debate within the CDM framework. Indeed, the option is not expressly mentioned in Article 12, which only talks about “emissions reduction”. It is completely silent on the option of using carbon sinks. A strict interpretation of Article 12 can thus, lead to exclude carbon sequestration from the field of CDMs. However, the question has not yet been settled.
Lesson 2E: Carbon Sinks: A Controversial Topic
It is appropriate to note that, during the pilot phase, joint activities of carbon sequestration have been registered.
Consequently, it is certain that carbon sinks implemented in developing countries will be included in the Kyoto flexible mechanisms, either as joint implementation or as clean development mechanisms, in the hypothesis that a larger interpretation is given to Article 12.
Lesson 2F: Other Controversies related to the Clean Development Mechanism
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