The role of international organisations in tackling climate change issues
Various climate initiatives and agreements are done at the international level, co-ordinated by UNFCCC, especially through different Conferences of the Parties[1] (COPs). COPs are yearly conferences held in the framework of the UNFCCC. They serve to assess progress in dealing with climate change. A COP brings together the 197 nations and territories — called Parties — that have signed onto the Framework Convention. They assess the climate situation and determine climate measures and agreements to be implemented by all countries. For example, in 2015, at COP21 in Paris, the Paris Agreement included that mitigation policies should be oriented towards the internationally recognised goal of limiting the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C by 2100, and preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels.
Below is a description of COP26, which took place in Glasgow in 2022, as a case study (United Nations, n.d.).
| COP26: Together for our planet
The UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) brought together 120 world leaders and over 40,000 registered participants, including 22,274 party delegates, 14.124 observers, and 3.886 media representatives. COP26 did produce new “building blocks” to advance implementation of the Paris Agreement through actions that can get the world on a more sustainable, low-carbon pathway forward. What was agreed? Recognising the emergency Countries reaffirmed the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. They recognised that the impacts of climate change will be much lower at a temperature increase of 1.5°C compared with 2°C. Accelerating action Countries recognise the urgency of action “in this critical decade,” to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent if we are to reach net zero around mid-century. Moving away from fossil fuels Countries ultimately agreed to a provision calling for a phase-down of coal power and a phase-out of “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies. This is because coal, oil and gas are the main drivers of global warming. Delivering on climate finance Developed countries were urged to respect their promise to deliver USD100 billion a year for developing countries. Stepping up support for adaptation The Glasgow Pact calls for a doubling of finance to support developing countries in adapting to the impacts of climate change and building resilience. This would significantly increase finance for protecting lives and livelihoods, which so far has made up only about 25 per cent of all climate finance (with 75 per cent going towards green technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions). Completing the Paris Rulebook This is especially about the norms related to carbon markets, which will allow countries struggling to meet their emissions targets to purchase emissions reductions from other nations that have already exceeded their targets. Focusing on loss and damage Acknowledging that climate change is having increasing impacts on people, especially in the developing world. A new “Glasgow dialogue” was launched to discuss arrangements for the funding of activities to avert, minimise, and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change. New deals and announcements
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Source: United Nations. (n.d.). COP26: Together for our planet. Accessed 7 July 2024 at https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop26
Within the international arena, the European Union (EU) has been a prominent player as an advocate for the ratification of international agreements and the commitment to emissions reductions targets. Under the UNFCCC (1992), the EU had already committed broadly to limit GHG emissions, while under the Kyoto Protocol (1997), it extended this to a specific reduction objective of 8 per cent on 1990 levels (though with differentiated obligations for Member States) under the first commitment period (2008–2012) and to a further 18 per cent reduction, resulting in a total 20 per cent reduction of GHG emissions on 1990 levels by 2020 under the second (2013–2020).
Under the Paris Agreement, the EU and its Member States jointly committed to a 55 per cent GHG emissions reduction domestically by 2030, compared to 1990. The Paris Agreement shifts from the top-down approach of agreed national targets adopted under the Kyoto Protocol to the bottom-up system in which parties submit “progressive” Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) every five years according to a ratchet or ambition mechanism.
Despite this international agreement on the importance of combating climate change, emissions have continued to rise, and the world is on track to achieve a dangerous level of global warming with direct social and economic consequences, as the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, released in February 2022 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), dramatically confirmed. The IPCC clearly reinforced the urgency of climate change action at multiple governmental levels and called for efforts far beyond current international, supranational, national, and sub-national commitments (Alberton, 2022).
Activity
Activity 7.2. The aim of the Conference of the Parties (COP) is to assess the effects of measures introduced by the parties to limit climate change within the goals of the UNFCCC. Indicate the key highlights from COP27 and COP28 for climate change action.
