UNFCCC Summits

List of UNFCCC summits

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Kyoto Protocol emission target gases include CO₂, SF6, CH₄, HFCs, N₂O and PFCs.

Adaptation Fund is supervised and managed by the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB). The Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides secretariat services to the AFB and the World Bank serves as the trustee of the Adaptation Fund on an interim basis.

Developed countries promised to provide $30 billion for the period 2010-12 and to mobilize long term finance of further $100 billion a year by 2020 from a variety of sources.

A Technology Mechanism was also established in this Summit. It was expected to facilitate the implementation of enhanced action on technology development and transfer in order to support action on mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

It was also decided that UNEP-led consortium will be the host of Climate Technology Centre (CTC). The CTC is the implementing arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism.

Governments also decided to close the “pre-2020 ambition gap”- the gap between what has been pledged to date and what is required to keep the global temperatures below a maximum average of 2 degrees Celsius.

1.       National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) were to be prepared.

2.       NAZCA Climate Action Portal was launched with the support from the UNFCCC.

3.       Lima Work Programme on Gender was initiated to advance gender balance in climate related measures.

4.       UNFCCC NAMA Day (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) was a special event that took place.

1.   Paris Agreement entered into force in 2016 after ratification by 55 countries that account for at least 55% of the global emissions. India signed and ratified the agreement in 2016 and as of 2019, 180+ countries have ratified it.

2.   INDC commitments were made by the major polluters.

3.   The objective of the Agreement was to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Further, countries should pursue to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

5.       It was also decided that there will be a Global Stocktake every 5 years to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement and to inform further individual action by Parties.

6.       Earlier, USA has announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, but has re-joined recently.

1.       COP 22 was also called as “Action COP” or “Agricultural COP”. Accordingly, Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA) was launched at the Conference.

2.       There were deliberations on “Orphan Issues” that are referenced in the Paris Agreement but not assigned to another body for further reconsideration.

3.       Directions were given to conduct an early stocktake through a “Facilitative Dialogue”.

4.       Few nations submitted “Mid-Century Strategies” to combat climate change. In line with this, a new initiative called the ‘2050 Pathway Platfor’ was launched to help other countries develop their own mid-century strategies.

1.       Fiji became the first small-island state to host the UNFCCC climate talks.

2.       Gender Action Plan, highlighting the role of women in climate action, was launched.

3.       Local Communities and Indigenous People’s Platform (LCIPP), aimed at bringing together people and their knowledge systems to build a climate resilient world, was launched.

4.       Ocean Pathway Partnership was launched, thus formally recognizing the links between oceans and climate change.

5.       Talanoa Dialogue, a process aimed at helping countries implement and enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions by 2020, was launched.

6.       Powering Past Coal Alliance was also launched in COP 23, led by UK and Canada. The Alliance is aimed at accelerating clean growth and achieving rapid phase-out of traditional coal power.

7.       InsuResilience Global Partnership is a joint initiative of G7, G20 and V20 (group of 49 most vulnerable countries including small islands). It was launched in COP 23 to strengthen the resilience of developing countries and protect the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people against the impact of disasters and other climate risks.

The COP also highlighted the fact that it is no longer a climate crisis but a “climate emergency”. Recently, UK and Ireland became the first and second countries respectively to declare a climate emergency.

The “Santiago Network” was established to catalyse the technical assistance required by the most vulnerable countries.

The Suva Expert dialogue on Loss and Damage was held under the aegis of UNFCCC, which discussed risk assessment, risk transfer, risk reduction and retention and comprehensive risk management approaches to extreme weather events and slow onset climatic processes.

1.       Market Mechanism 1: It sets up a Carbon Market which allows countries to sell any extra emission reductions {called as Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMO)} which they have achieved compared to their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) target.

a.     This is a voluntary direct bilateral cooperation between countries aiming to promote sustainable development.

2.       Market Mechanism 2: The second mechanism will create a new international carbon market for the trading of emissions reduction created anywhere in the world by the public or the private sector.

a.     This new market is referred to as the “Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM)” which seeks to replace the “Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)” of Kyoto Protocol.

b.    The delivery of “Overall Mitigation in Global Emissions (OMGE)” is a key requirement of SDM.