International Agreements

Matt Simpson, Matt Kornberg, and Brian Delehanty

UNFCC

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change First formal international agreement for human-driven climate change U.S. - Senate's advice and consent, George H. W. Bush signs 1992 52 Countries

 Requires parties to:

o Gather and share info on GHG emissions,

national policies, & best practices o Launch national strategies addressing GHG emissions o Cooperate in preparation for impacts of climate change

 Legally binding No rule on the adoption of protocols, so

parties have repeatedly failed to reach agreements

Problems

The United States has been pretty resistant to binding agreements Developing nations (and China) argue
that they need to be allowed more carbon emissions due to still being in an industrial/industrializing economy

Kyoto Protocol

Establishing quantitative emission

reduction targets for high income countries Reduce overall emissions 5% below 1990 "Marrakesh Accords" - rules for implementation

 Internationally binding agreement Market-based mechanisms: o Emission trading among parties Penalties:
o Increase in country's emissions reduction

target o Exclusion of country from emission trading scheme

 2001 - Pres. George W. Bush announces

U.S. would not become a party to the Protocol Note: The U.S. did sign the protocol in 1998, showing support and approval of the agreement, but never became a party Russia and certain other post-soviet eastern European nations have since dropped out

 Japan has stated that it will not return for

a second Kyoto protocol
o Cites economic restrictions which would

defections such as this make the

agreement far weaker

reduce economic competitiveness

Nations in purple are not returning second term

Copenhagen Accord

First U.N. document with goal of limiting

global temperature rise

Political agreement, but not legally binding Countries "associate with"

rather than signing

o Limit to 2 degrees centigrade

 Predicted CO2 emissions for 2020 are 44 gigatons Projected emissions without the agreement amount to 50 gigatons Models suggest the GHG concentration
should level off at 650 parts per million

 Stated that climate change is one of the foremost challenges of our time Called for carbon mitigation from both developed and developing countries. Established Copenhagen Green Climate
Fund which would support climate focused projects

Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

Voluntary agreement lasting from 2005 to 2011 included China, Australia, United States, Canada, South Korea, India, and Japan independent projects still continue even
though the agreement is officially concluded centered on fostering international collaboration

 Has undergone criticism

o called innefective

None of the parties have actually

decreased emissions

o criticized for the lack of binding agreements