Global InformationUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change information
| United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Multilateral environmental agreement |
| Context | Environmentalism |
| Drafted | 9 May 1992 |
| Signed | 4–14 June 1992 20 June 1992 – 19 June 1993 |
| Location | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil New York, United States |
| Effective | 21 March 1994 |
| Condition | Ratification by 50 states |
| Signatories | 165 |
| Parties | 198 |
| Depositary | Secretary-General of the United Nations |
| Languages |
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| Full text | |
 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at Wikisource | |
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the UN process for negotiating an agreement to limit dangerous climate change. Formally it is an international treaty among countries to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.[1] It was signed in 1992 by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro. The treaty entered into force on 21 March 1994.[2] "UNFCCC" is also the name of the Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the convention, with offices on the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany.[3]
The convention's main objective is explained in Article 2. Is it the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic [i.e., human-caused] interference with the climate system".[1] The treaty calls for ongoing scientific research and regular meetings, negotiations, and future policy agreements. Those activities should allow ecosystems to adapt to climate change, ensure that food production is not threatened and enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.[2][4]
The UNFCCC's work currently focuses on implementing the Paris Agreement. This agreement entered into force in 2016.[5][6] It aims to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above levels before the Industrial Revolution, and even aiming to hold it at 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). The Paris Agreement superseded the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol which had been signed in 1997 and ran from 2005 to 2020.
By 2022, the UNFCCC had 198 parties. Its supreme decision-making body, the Conference of the Parties (COP), meets every year. Other meetings at the regional and technical level take place throughout the year.[7][8] The Paris Agreement mandates a review or "global stocktake" of progress towards meetings its goals every five years. The first of these took place at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2023.
The treaty laid out the responsibilities for three categories of signatory states. These categories are developed countries, developed countries with special financial responsibilities, and developing countries.[4] The developed countries, also called Annex I countries, originally consisted of 38 states. Annex I countries should adopt national policies and take corresponding measures to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases. They should also report on steps for returning individually or jointly to their 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels.[4]
It is problematic that key signatory states are not adhering to their individual commitments. For this reason, the UNFCCC has been criticized as being unsuccessful in reducing greenhouse gas emission since its adoption.[9] Parties to the convention have not agreed on a process allowing for majority voting. All decisions are taken by consensus, giving individual parties or countries a veto.[10] The effectiveness of the Paris Agreement to reach its climate goals is also under debate, especially with regards to its more ambitious goal of keeping the global temperature rise to under 1.5 °C.[11][12]
- ^ a b "Article 2" (PDF). The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
- ^ a b "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)". World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ "About the Secretariat". unfccc.int. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
The secretariat was established in 1992 when countries adopted the UNFCCC. The original secretariat was in Geneva. Since 1996, the secretariat has been located in Bonn, Germany.
- ^ a b c H.K., Jacobson (2001). "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: Climate Policy: International". Science Direct. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ "About UNFCCC". United Nations Global Market place (ungm). Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ Jepsen, Henrik; et al. (2021). Negotiating the Paris Agreement: The Insider Stories. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108886246.
- ^ R. Stavins, J. Zou, et al., "International Cooperation: Agreements and Instruments." Archived 29 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine Chapter 13 in: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
- ^ "What is the UNFCCC & the COP". Climate Leaders. Lead India. 2009. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
- ^ Schiermeier, Quirin (2012). "The Kyoto Protocol: Hot air". Nature. 491 (7426): 656–658. Bibcode:2012Natur.491..656S. doi:10.1038/491656a. PMID 23192127. S2CID 4401151.
- ^ Staff, Carbon Brief (5 March 2024). "Guest post: The challenge of consensus decision-making in UN climate negotiations". Carbon Brief. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ Raiser, Kilian; Kornek, Ulrike; Flachsland, Christian; Lamb, William F (19 August 2020). "Is the Paris Agreement effective? A systematic map of the evidence". Environmental Research Letters. 15 (8): 083006. Bibcode:2020ERL....15h3006R. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab865c. ISSN 1748-9326.
- ^ Maizland, Lindsay (29 April 2021). "Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.