International Climate Negotiations

The Path to an International Climate Agreement in Copenhagen

The world is currently working toward a global deal on climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In December 2007 at discussions in Bali, Indonesia, an action plan was adopted to lay the framework for reaching consensus among all nations on tackling global climate change. Subsequent discussions on emissions reductions targets, timelines, and financial and technical assistance to low income countries have been ongoing and will continue through 2009. Governments hope to reach an agreement at the 15th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. This is the "path to Copenhagen" on which all countries must travel.

To achieve an equitable and just international climate agreement, the United States and other industrialized countries will need to agree to:

• Dramatically reduce carbon emissions domestically without carbon offset loopholes;
• Assist those most affected by global climate change in dealing with its impacts;
• Provide financial assistance to other countries to support their shift to clean energy; and
• Contribute to efforts to protect the world’s forests to save the climate

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The UNFCCC became effective in 1994, and has been ratified by 192 countries, including the United States. More than 180 countries have also ratified the Kyoto Protocol (named after Kyoto, Japan, where the protocol was adopted). Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Union committed to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012, known as the first commitment period . By the end of this period, a new international framework for addressing climate change must be negotiated and ratified.

Intergovernmental meetings under the UNFCCC will take place between now and December 2009 (see the timeline on the right). In 2007, these meetings culminated in the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia in December, where the Bali Action Plan was adopted.  The 4 pillars of the Bali Action Plan are to reach agreement on:

• Actions to mitigate climate change nationally and internationally;
• Action on adaptation, or addressing the impacts of climate change;
• Action on  technology development and transfer to support mitigation and adaptation;
• Provision of financial resources and investment to support action on mitigation and adaptation

Discussions through 2009 will continue around these pillars, with the hope of progressing to an agreement in December in Copenhagen.

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

One of the most basic tenets of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is "that the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions…" This principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities is based on the historical responsibility of industrialized countries for the climate crisis and the right of developing countries to a sustainable development path. Developing countries that will be hit hardest by climate change are among the least responsible for the impacts they will face and the least capable financially of addressing those impacts, which include drought, water scarcity, severe weather events, and threats to agricultural production and food security. Global warming impacts are already driving migration and conflict over resources.  As a result, climate change will be one of the central drivers of global poverty in the 21st century. 

Industrialized countries like the United States, one of the world's largest historical polluters, must not only drastically reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions so as to keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius. They are also legally obligated as parties to the UNFCCC to provide new and additional financing to developing countries for mitigation, adaptation, and environmentally-sound technology transfer. An equitable global agreement on climate must set up a framework for developing countries to leapfrog dirty energy sources and move directly towards clean energy economies that allow for economic growth and increased energy access. An international climate deal will need to support countries and communities in reducing deforestation and forest degradation. The global deal must also assist countries and communities most affected by global climate change adapt to its impacts.