Chapter 10 GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

2001 January: the IPCC Third Assessment Report is released.

March: US President George W Bush announces that the United States will not become a Party to the Kyoto
Protocol.

July: At the resumed session of COP-6 Parties adopt the ‘Bonn Agreements,’ a political deal on the Kyoto Protocol
rules and the implementation of the Convention.

November: COP-7 in Marrakesh, Morocco adopts the ‘Marrakesh Accords,’ a set of detailed rules for the Kyoto
Protocol and the implementation of the Convention.

2002 The World Summit on Sustainable Development (“WSSD”) meets in Johannesburg, South Africa, to review progress
since the 1992 Earth Summit.

COP-8 in New Delhi, India, seeks to clarify the rules of the regime.

2003 At least 55 states ratify the Kyoto Protocol, but the necessary 55% of total CO2 emissions is still to be achieved, so
that the Protocol is still not in force.

COP-9 in Milan, Italy, continues to consider the rules of the regime.

2004 Russia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, allowing the Protocol to come into force 16.02.2005.

COP-10 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Convention receives 189 instruments of ratification (August 2005).

2005 Kyoto Protocol enters into force, as of August 2005 there are 155 parties.

COP-11 and COP-1 of the Kyoto Protocol take place in Montreal. A Working Group was established to discuss
future commitments for developed countries for the period after 2012.

Abbreviation: COP (Conference of the Parties, the annual meeting of Parties under the Convention).

2. The United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (“1992 UNFCCC”)
14. The objective of the 1992 UNFCCC is to tackle the
negative effects of climate change. The
Convention’s stated aim is to stabilize greenhouse
gas concentration at a level that allows ecosystems
to adapt naturally to climate change so that food
production is not threatened, while enabling
economic development to proceed in a sustainable
manner (article 2).
15. In achieving this aim, the parties to the Convention
are to be guided by a range of principles that reflect
the understanding of global environmental
responsibility elaborated in the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development and Agenda 21.
These principles include inter-generational equity,
the precautionary approach, the right to
sustainable development and, as mentioned
above, the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities (article 3).
• The promotion of scientific and technical
cooperation;
• The sustainable management of forests, oceans
and ecosystems; and
• The integration of climate change
considerations in national social, economic
and environmental policies (article 4(1)).
17. Certain parties to 1992 UNFCCC, classified as
Annex I parties, have taken on additional
commitments. Annex I parties include
industrialized nations that have committed to
return their anthropogenic emissions to 1990 levels
by 2000. To this end, the Annex I parties are
required to adopt national policies and measures to
mitigate the negative effects of climate change by
both limiting the emission of greenhouse gases and
by protecting greenhouse gas sinks. However, the
wording of the 1992 UNFCCC is considered to be
rather vague and the extent to which it represents a
binding obligation has therefore been questioned
(article 4(2)).

16. The Convention provides that all parties make
general commitments regarding:
• The establishment of national inventories of
greenhouse gas emissions and sinks;
18. In meeting these commitments, parties are able to
take account of their different starting points,
resources, economies and other individual
circumstances. Parties may also jointly implement
the policies and measures. In order to monitor

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progress, the Parties are required to deliver reports
covering the ongoing implementation of their
policies and measures and their projected emission
levels (article 12(1)). In recognition of the fact that
these commitments are only the first step in
addressing the problem of climate change, the
Convention provides for the review of the
adequacy of the commitments at an early stage,
and then at regular intervals (article 4(2)(d)). This
provision led to the further negotiations on setting
the specific emission reduction targets found in the
1997 Kyoto Protocol.
19. The Conference of the Parties (“COP”) to the
Convention serves as the principal supervisory
institution for the Convention, and meets regularly
to review the adequacy, implementation and
effectiveness of the Convention and the Kyoto
Protocol. The COP receives advice from the
Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological
Advice (“SBSTA”) which reviews and advises on
the state of scientific and technical knowledge
(article 9), and the Supplementary Body for
Implementation (“SBI”), which makes
recommendations on policy and implementation
issues (article 10). A Secretariat provides
organizational support and technical expertise for
the COP negotiations, and facilitates the flow of
authoritative information on the implementation of
the Convention. Now that the Kyoto Protocol has
entered into force, the COP may also serve as the
formal Meeting of the Parties (“MOP”) for the
Protocol, referred to as the “COP/MOP”. The first
meeting of the MOP was held together with COP-
11 in November-December 2005.
a) Capacity building and financial mechanism
20. Article 4 of the Convention includes important
provisions dealing with capacity building in order
to encourage compliance by developing country
parties. A range of measures is identified, including
the provision of “new and additional” financial
resources, the transfer of technology and support
for national reporting. Article 4(5) of the
Convention states that the developed country
parties “shall take all practicable steps to promote,
facilitate and finance, as appropriate, the transfer
of, or access to, environmentally sound
technologies and know-how to other Parties,
particularly developing country Parties, to enable
them to implement the provisions of the
Convention...”
21. The Convention’s financial mechanism, provided
for in article 11, is designed to be a major source of
such funding. Its role is to transfer funds and
technology to developing countries on a grant or
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concessional basis. The mechanism is guided by
and accountable to the COP, which decides on
policies, programme priorities, and eligibility
criteria. The Convention states that the operation
of the financial mechanism can be entrusted to one
or more international entities with “an equitable
and balanced representation of all Parties within a
transparent system of governance.” The COP has
delegated this responsibility to the Global
Environment Facility (“GEF”) (for more discussion
on this see chapter 6), an independent financial
institution which provides grants to developing
countries for environmental projects.
22. In July 2001, the COP created three new funds to
further assist developing countries. A Special
Climate Change Fund (“SCCF”) and a Least
Developed Countries Fund (“LDCF”) have been
established under the Convention to help
developing countries adapt to climate change
impacts, obtain clean technologies and limit the
growth in their emissions. In addition, an
Adaptation Fund was under the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol to finance concrete adaptation projects
and programmes. The COP would guide this Fund
until the 1997 Kyoto Protocol enters into force.
The industrialized countries, listed in Annex II of
the Protocol, also pledged to make a combined
contribution of 450 million per year by 2005
through these funds and existing avenues to help
developing countries manage their emissions and
adapt to climate change.
b) Compliance and Dispute Settlement
23. The Convention establishes three steps to manage
compliance: reporting; review; and assessing and
responding to non-compliance. This process is
overseen by the COP. It also allows for the creation
of a multilateral consultative process for the parties
to resolve questions of implementation (article 13).
The compliance process has been developed
under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, details of which
are discussed below.
24. The Convention also contains relatively standard
international dispute settlement provisions under
article 14, which are similar to those found under
the 1985 Vienna Convention/1987 Montreal
Protocol. In the case of a dispute between any two
or more parties concerning the interpretation or
application of the 1992 UNFCCC, the Parties
concerned are to seek a settlement of the dispute
through negotiation or any other peaceful means of
their own choice. Recourse can also be taken in
certain circumstances to arbitration or the
International Court of Justice.