UNIB10007 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: 2Degrees
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
TOPIC 12: UNFCCC
• Global Commons Problem: individual polluters have few incentives to protect global climate, unilateral
action by some polluters is ineffective + irrational + therefore binding agreement among all major polluters
to achieve collective action
• Complicated legal agreement with many factors, vague objectives + no rules about decision making
History
• Awareness grew – development of IPCC
• Went hand in hand with global environmental diplomacy
• Rio 1992: UNFCCC – signed by 154 countries @ UN conference on environmental development
o Australia said 20% emission reduction below 1990 levels by 2000
Structure
• Set of articles + principles
• Each country has a commitment to provide inventories of GHG emissions
o Annex 1: measure on mitigation
o Annex 2: parties not to provide resources to meet cost of preparing national communications +
assist vulnerable countries
• No rules about decisions
Kyoto
• Set legally binding targets for emission reductions on 39 developed countries to achieve an overall 5%
reduction in first time period 2008-2012 – target met due to collapse of Soviet Economy
o This compensated for countries that didn’t meet their targets
Copenhagen (2009)
• Weak accord – no binding target
• Recognises limit to warming to 2 degrees
Paris
• Huge success – global agreement + motivation
• Global objective: well below 2 degrees + pursue to reach 1.5%
• Successive nationally determine contribution
• Rich countries pay support to developing countries
• Weakness: no compliance mechanisms, no progression on adaptation
