UNFCCC 101
Sierra Student Coalition International Committee
Find us at
www.ssc.org or
@sierrastudent
Document Use and Instructions
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This document was created by the Sierra Student Coalition’s
International Committee in preparation for the COP20
negotiations in Lima, Peru in December of 2014
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This presentation is solely intended for educational purposes to
further the general public’s basic understanding of critical
international climate policy events and issues
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The information in this document may be periodically updated to
reflect current events and new decisions by the UNFCCC
Climate Change: Defining the problem
Climate change is real and humans are the main cause:
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The concentration of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average
global temperature on Earth;
The concentration has been rising steadily, and mean global temperatures along with it, since the
time of the Industrial Revolution; and
The most abundant greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is the product of burning fossil fuels
The impacts are already being felt globally:
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Agricultural yields are expected to drop in most tropical and
sub-tropical regions
Diseases, especially those carried by vectors like mosquitoes,
could spread to new areas in the world
Millions of people are expected to be exposed to increasing
water stress
More intense weather-related disasters
Rising sea levels
Extinctions are expected for large numbers of plant and
animal species
Typhoon Hayen Aftermath. Photo from The Guardian
Why was the UNFCCC created?
Mission: “Preventing “dangerous” human interference with the
climate system is the ultimate aim of the UNFCCC”
 Scientists recognized that there was a problem
 UNFCCC provides place for world leaders to
gather to find shared solutions to shared
problem
 Put the onus on developed countries to lead the
way
 Direct funds to climate change mitigation and
adaptation activities
 Keep tabs on global emissions and climate
impacts and what's being done about it
 Chart the formal consideration of adaptation to
climate change
Timeline of Significant Events
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1992:
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1997:
Rio Earth Summit adopts UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention to
Combat Desertification, and UN Convention on
Biological Diversity
COP3 adopts the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s
first greenhouse gas emissions reduction treaty
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2005:
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The United States fails to ratify the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol enters into force
First Meeting of the Parties (CMP1) occurs with COP11
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2010:
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2011:
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2013:
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2014:
2007:
COP13 adopts the Bali Road Map, which lays
out focuses on mitigation, adaptation, technology and
financing
2009:
COP15 failed to reach post-Kyoto commitment.
Copenhagen Accord adopted to limit the global
temperature rise to 2°C
COP16 establishes Green Climate Fund, the
Technology Mechanism and the Cancun Adaptation
Framework
COP17 launches Ad Hoc Working Group on the
Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP)
COP19 in Warsaw establishes REDD+ and loss
and damage mechanism
COP20 unveils new negotiating text in
anticipation of 2015
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400K attend People’s Climate March in New York City
2015:
COP21 in Paris is deadline for new post-Kyoto
climate treaty
UNFCCC Governance Structure
Conference of Parties (COP)
WHAT IS COP?
WHEN AND WHERE DOES COP HAPPEN?
 COP stands for Conference of Parties
 Supreme decision making body of the
UNFCCC
 COP has met every year since 1995
 Host country shifts between regions each
year
WHO IS A PARTY?
 All States that are Parties to the Convention
WHAT HAPPENS AT COP?
 Review the implementation of the
Convention and any other legal instruments
that the COP adopts
 Promote the effective implementation of
the Convention, including institutional and
administrative agreements
 Review national emission inventories
submitted by Parties
 Negotiate terms of new mechanisms, legal
instruments, and treaties
Party Classification
Annex I
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Industrialized countries that were members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) in 1992
Countries with economies in transition (Russia, the Baltic States, some Central and Eastern
European States)
Annex II
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Parties consist of the OECD members of Annex I, but not the EIT Parties.
Responsible for contributing to finance mechanisms, emission reduction activities, and technology
transfers to EIT Parties and developing countries
Non-Annex I
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Parties are mostly developing countries and those especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of
climate change
Parties are the recipients of investment, insurance and technology transfer from Annex II countries
Parties may volunteer to become Annex I countries when they are sufficiently developed
Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
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49 Parties given special consideration on account of their limited capacity to respond to climate
change
Parties are least responsible for anthropogenic climate change and least able to adapt to its adverse
effects
Negotiating Blocs
Based on the tradition of the UN, Parties are organized into five regional groups:
 African States,
 Asian States,
 Eastern European States,
 Latin American and the Caribbean States, and
 Western European and Other States
Non-regional negotiating blocs also exist based on shared interests:
 Group of 77 and China (G-77 and China)
 Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
 Least Developed Countries (LDC)
 European Union (EU)
 The Umbrella Group
 Environmental Integrity Group (EIG)
 Other groups in the climate change process include the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), Central Asia, Caucasus, Albania and Moldova (CACAM), the
League of Arab States and the Agence intergouvernementale de la francophonie.
Observer Groups and Civil Society
 Observer groups are Intergovernmental and Nongovernmental Organizations that are allowed to
observe and indirectly influence the UNFCCC
proceedings
 The UNFCCC recognizes 1,598 NGOs known
collectively as Civil Society
 Civil Society self-organizes based on shared special
interests
 i.e. women and gender, youth, business,
environmental
 Civil Society groups do not have authority to
negotiate, but can provide recommendations to
Parties
 Constituencies may deliver high-level
interventions during plenaries
 Any intervention must move through
Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI)
Current “big deal” mechanisms
 Green Climate Fund: Developed countries agreed to
provide biennial reports to ramp up finance
 Developing countries pushed for $70 billion by 2016, which
developed countries refused
 Loss and Damage: A financial mechanism was tabled until
COP22
 REDD+: Adoption of guidelines so countries can use
“reference levels” to determine qualifications for increased
funding
 Technology Mechanism: Adopted to help facilitate
technology transfers
Post-Warsaw Attitudes
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Flexibility from U.S. and EU
Rifts among G77/China
Low ambition
Rare consensus among
observers during walkout
People’s Climate March
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September 21, 2014 in New York
City
Largest and most inclusive
climate march in history
400k people and more than 50k
youth
Pressured world leaders at UN
Climate Summit to build
ambition for mitigation and
adaptation actions
Important for ramp-up to COP20
and Paris
The world’s next climate treaty
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Kyoto Protocol has expired and new commitment to mitigation needed
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New protocol needs to get Parties to commit to legally-binding
emissions reductions to keep the global average temperature from
rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F)
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Post-2020 Action (ADP Workstream 1)
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Draft negotiating text no later than 2015 to be adopted in Paris and for it to come
into effect in 2020
Countries must pledge INDCs in 2015
Pre-2020 Action (ADP Workstream 2)
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Mitigation efforts in the absence of a legally-binding agreement.
Some examples of possible recommended actions as a result Workstream 2 include:
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Reduction of GHG in international transport
Reduction of production and use of HFCs
Enhancing energy efficiency
Promoting renewable energy
Encouraging further work on international sustainability standards and eco-labelling
Lima, looking ahead to Paris
 The ultimate purpose of COP20 is to produce a treaty
to be signed in Paris at COP21 in 2015
 Key themes at COP20:
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Equity
Green Climate Fund pledges
Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC)
Workable legal framework
Our strategy while in Lima
U.S. Youth Power
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Equitable Solutions
Campus Divestment Movement
Campuses Beyond Coal
50k youth at People’s Climate March
1992 Action
The SSC COP20
delegation will leverage
the power of youth
successes and stories in
the U.S. to influence
negotiators to commit
to equitable solutions
and ambitious emissions
targets in 2015
• Maintain principle of Common But
Differentiated Responsibilities
• U.S. must pledge to Green Climate
Fund in addition to mitigation
• Ensure our work to achieve 2030 clean
energy outcomes emphasizes fairness
and justice
Strong Emissions Target
• Advocate preventing an increase in global temperatures more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit
above pre-industrial levels
• Advocate for U.S. carbon emissions to drop at least 50% below 2005 emissions levels by 2030
• Adopt ambitious 2030 clean energy outcomes, including 100% carbon free in the power sector
and 50% oil savings in the transportation sector
Appendix
Other Workstreams: Adaptation
 Loss and Damage
 Nairobi Work Program
 Helps developing nations understand and assess vulnerability and adaptation and
make informed decisions.
 Expected Outcomes: Essentially, understanding among parties about global
warming and cooperation to address it.
 National Adaptation Plans
 Objective: To reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change by building
adaptive capacity and resilience
 Funding will be available through the Global Environment Facility (GEF),
Least Developed Countries Fund, and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF).
 National Adaptation Programmes of Action
 “NAPAs provide a process for the Least Developed Countries to identify priority
activities that respond to their urgent and immediate needs with regard to
adaptation to climate change - those needs for which further delay could increase
vulnerability or lead to increased costs at a later stage.”
Other Workstreams: Adaptation
 Adaptation Committee
 Promotes enhanced action on adaptation in a coherent manner under the
Convention, inter Alia, through:
 Providing technical support and guidance to the Parties
 Sharing of relevant info.
 Promoting synergy and strengthening engagement with national, regional,
and international orgs.
 Providing info and recommendations, drawing on adaptation good
practices, for consideration by the COP when providing guidance on
means to incentivize the implementation of adaptation actions, (e.g.
finance, technology and capacity-building)
 Considering info communicated by Parties on their monitoring and review
of adaptation actions, support provided and received.
 LDC Expert Group
 The LEG was established by the COP in 2001.The LEG is requested by the COP to
provide technical support and advice to the least developed countries (LDCs) on
the national adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs) and the LDC work
programme, and to provide technical guidance and support to the national
adaptation plan (NAP) process.
 Loss and Damage Executive Committee (See “Loss and Damage”)
Other Workstreams: Loss and Damage
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The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage is and attempt
to…
 Clearly define “loss and damage” under the Convention
 Prepare a comprehensive loss and damage model for risks associated
with climate change (especially in vulnerable areas).
 Contribute to new ways of viewing the climate challenge
 Mobilize resources and capacity to help mobilize vulnerable
countries/areas.
The Loss and Damage Workstream was considered as part of the Cancun
Adaptation Framework (COP 16), and established at COP 19 (in Warsaw).
Loss and Damage is separated into two types:
 Extreme events: (tough to find a definition, presumably its supposed
to be self explanatory).
 Slow Onset Events: sea level rise, increasing temperatures, ocean
acidification, glacial retreat (and related impacts), salinization, land
and forest degradation, loss of biodiversity, and desertification.
Other Workstreams: Loss and Damage
The SBI includes three “Thematic Areas”:
Assessing the risk of loss and damage associated with
adverse effects of climate currently known
A range of approaches to address loss and damage associated
with the adverse effects of climate change, including
impacts related to extreme weather and slow onset events,
taking into consideration experiences at all levels
Which in turn includes four meetings of regional experts
(Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, and
Small Island Developing States)
The role of the Convention in enhancing implementation of
approaches to address loss and damage associated with the
adverse effects of climate change
Other Workstreams: REDD+
 Collaborative initiative on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation in developing countries (since 2008)
 Deforestation and forest degradation are the second leading cause of global
warming, responsible for nearly 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions
 Address environmental degradation and encourage enhancement of forest carbon
stocks by assigning an economic value to forests; allocates carbon offsets;
provides funding for REDD projects
 Part of the UN’s REDD initative; other multilateral initiatives include the Forest
Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and Forest Investment Program (FIP) hosted by
The World Bank
 To date, donor contributions total US$215.2 million, 91% of which is already
allocated
 Issues/controversy:
 Implementing Measuring and Monitoring Systems compliant with the Measuring,
Reporting and Verification (MRV) to prove how much carbon is stored in forests
 Working WITH indigenous peoples
 Privitizing forests which allow wealthy companies to buy carbon offsets instead of
reducing carbon emissions
Other Workstreams: Climate Finance
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Standing Committee on Finance: This Committee was established at COP16 to assist
the COP in exercising its functions in relation to the financial mechanism of the
Convention. This involves improving coherence and coordination in the delivery of
climate change financing, rationalization of the financial mechanism, mobilization of
financial resources and measurement, reporting and verification of support provided
to developing country Parties.
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Global Environment Facility: Since 1991, the GEF has provided $12.5 billion in grants
and leveraged $58 billion in co-financing for 3,690 projects in 165 developing
countries. For 23 years, developed and developing countries alike have provided these
funds to support activities related to biodiversity, climate change, international
waters, land degradation, and chemicals and waste in the context of development
projects and programs.
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Adaptation Fund: The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete
adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties that are
particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The Adaptation Fund
is financed by a 2 per cent share of the proceeds from certified emission reductions
issued by the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism and from other
sources of funding.
Other Workstreams: Climate Finance
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Green Climate Fund: Intended to be the main fund for global climate change finance
in the context of mobilizing USD 100 billion by 2020. The GCF was established by
COP16
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Least Developed Countries Fund: The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was
established to support a work programme to assist Least Developed Country Parties
(LDCs) carry out, inter alia, the preparation and implementation of national
adaptation programmes of action (NAPAs)
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Special Climate Change Fund: The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) was
established under the Convention in 2001 to finance projects relating to: adaptation;
technology transfer and capacity building; energy, transport, industry, agriculture,
forestry and waste management; and economic diversification. This fund should
complement other funding mechanisms for the implementation of the Convention