U.N.'s Doha Conference Moves Toward New Global Climate Change Deal
The 18th Conference of the Parties to the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change ("UNFCCC") came to a close in Doha, Qatar on December 8, 2012 with the adoption of agreements intended to set a pathway to achieve a new global climate change treaty by 2015. Seen as a modest step forward, the Doha agreements seek to provide that by 2020, all nations accept more ambitious global greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments to close the gap between current pledges under the Kyoto Protocol and the reductions needed to hold global warming below 2°C. To meet the 2015 deadline, a timetable for meetings and workshops in 2013 was set, and it is anticipated that a meeting of world leaders will be convened in 2014 to give the required political momentum to the UNFCCC's work.
Certain nations, excluding key players such as the U.S., China, and Japan, agreed to extend their Kyoto Protocol commitments eight more years from 2013 to 2020, to conclude a round of negotiations launched in Bali, Indonesia in 2007. The agreements direct the Kyoto parties to consider strengthening their targets in 2014 and also provide a compromise over how to carry forward certain emission credits awarded to nations that were considered "economies in transition" when the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997.
The European Union has confirmed its participation in the Kyoto Protocol's "second commitment period" starting on January 1, 2013. The European Commission also confirmed that for the second Kyoto Protocol commitment period, the EU has established an emissions reduction commitment in line with its domestic target of cutting emissions by 20 percent of 1990 levels by 2020 but has left the door open to stepping up this reduction to 30 percent if the conditions are right.
The Doha conference made progress with setting up various bodies designed to channel technology and finance to developing nations. The Green Climate Fund, announced in 2010 at the 16th Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico, will be established in the Republic of Korea, which was also chosen as the location for work of the Standing Committee on Finance. The fund's activities are expected to be up and running in 2014. In addition, the Doha conference endorsed the proposal of a consortium led by the United Nations Environment Programme to host the Climate Technology Centre, the implementing arm of the UNFCCC's technology mechanism, for an initial term of five years.
The Doha agreements continued the pledge of financial support from developed to developing countries, including a pledge to compensate developing countries for "loss and damage" caused by climate change. Further arrangements are to be established at the 19th Conference of the Parties, to be held in Warsaw, Poland at the end of 2014.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
