The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental convention that aims to lower atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases in order to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the earth's climate system. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), commonly known as the Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, or the Rio Conference, was ratified in 1992. Each participating nation is expected to make a commitment to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions under this framework. A Conference of the Parties (COP) is an annual gathering of the 197 parties to the convention to review the status of efforts to combat climate change. This article will explain to you about United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will be helpful in preparing the Environment Syllabus for the UPSC Civil Service exam.

UNFCCC - Objective

• The ultimate objective of the Convention is to "achieve, stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would preclude harmful anthropogenic influence with the climate system".
• The prerequisite for this objective is that it shall be accomplished in a time frame sufficient:
  • to allow ecosystems to adjust naturally
  • to climate change
  • to ensure that food supply is not jeopardized, and
  • to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

UNFCCC - Parties and their Classification

• As of 2022, there are 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• It includes all UN members, the Holy See and the State of Palestine as UNGA observers, as well as Niue and the Cook Islands as UN non-member states and the supranational organization of the European Union.

Classification

Parties to the UNFCCC are categorized as follows:

• Annex I: The European Union is one of the 43 Parties to the UNFCCC that are included in the convention's Annex I.
  • These Parties are categorized as "economies in transition" (EITs) and industrialized (developed) nations.
  • The former centrally planned (Soviet) economies of Russia and Eastern Europe make up the 14 EITs.
• Annex II: Of the Parties named in the convention's Annex I, 24 are also included there, including the European Union.
  • These Parties are made up of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members from 1992 plus the EU and Turkey.
  • The EITs and developing nations must receive financial and technical support from Annex II Parties to help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (climate change mitigation) and deal with the effects of climate change.
• Annex B: This category includes Annex I countries with first- or second-round Kyoto greenhouse gas emission targets.
• Least-developed countries (LDCs): Due to their limited ability to adapt to the consequences of climate change, 49 Parties are designated as LDCs under the treaty.
• Non-Annex I: Low-income developing nations (58) make up the majority of UNFCCC Parties that aren't listed in Annex I of the protocol.
• Once sufficiently enough, developing nations can voluntarily join the Annex I group.

Classification of Parties in UNFCC

UNFCCC - Structure

• The Conference of the Parties (COP): The COP is referred to as the "supreme body" of the Convention since it has the final say in all decisions. The COP's yearly meetings are the center of the climate change effort.
• COP President and Bureau: The five regional organizations of the United Nations often take turns holding the position of COP President.
• The president of a nation is typically also the environment minister. Following the start of a COP session, s/he is chosen by acclamation.
• They have the responsibility of assisting the COP's work and advancing agreements between Parties.
• The COPs and each subsidiary body's activities are overseen by an elected Bureau.
• It is used not just during sessions but also in between sessions to maintain continuity.
• Subsidiary Bodies (SBs): The Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) are two permanent subsidiary organizations (SBs) that the Convention creates. These groups offer advice to the COP.
• The COP is to receive "timely advice on scientific and technological issues pertaining to the Convention" from the SBSTA.
• Assisting the COP "in the assessment and review of the effective implementation of the Convention" is the SBI's responsibility.
• The Secretariat: The COP, the SBs, the Bureau, and other COP-established bodies are all served by the secretariat, also known as the Climate Change Secretariat.
• Other Bodies: The COP has established other bodies to carry out particular tasks. When they finish their duties, these bodies give a report to the COP.
• Two ad hoc groups were created by COP 1 to carry out negotiations on particular topics.
• The "Dialogue" was started at COP 11 to discuss long-term cooperative action to combat climate change and to share experiences.

Structure of UNFCC

UNFCCC - National Communication

• The nations that have ratified the UNFCCC may submit reports known as "National Communication."
• Every four years, developed nations are obligated to submit National Communications, and developing nations should as well.
• Due to capacity issues, some Least Developed Countries have not filed National Communications in the preceding 5 to 15 years.
• The actions taken by a nation to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as well as a description of its vulnerabilities and climate change impacts are included in national communication reports, which are frequently several hundred pages long.
• National Communications are created in accordance with standards that have been approved by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties.
• The (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which serve as the foundation for the Paris Agreement, are shorter and less comprehensive, but they also adhere to a specified format and are subject to technical evaluation by experts.

UNFCCC - Kyoto Protocol

• By 1995, nations had come to the conclusion that the Convention's provisions for emission reductions were insufficient.
• Two years after they began talks to improve the world's response to climate change, they adopted the Kyoto Protocol.
• On December 11th, 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was ratified in Kyoto, Japan. It took a long time for ratification, and on February 16th, 2005, it became effective.
• The Kyoto Protocol "operationalizes" the Convention. It binds developed nations to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Convention's guiding principles.
• The Protocol and the Convention are fundamentally different from one another because whereas the Convention urged developed nations to stabilize GHG emissions, the Protocol binds them to do so.

*To know more about the topic, check this link Kyoto Protocol

UNFCCC - Achievements

• Initiatives from the UNFCCC helped raise public awareness of climate change, which is much higher now than it was in the late 1990s.
• It is difficult to dispute that over the previous two decades, during which the UNFCCC played a crucial role, the scientific understanding of the climate catastrophe has significantly advanced.
• In accordance with the National Adaptations Programme of Action (NAPAs) and the Nairobi work program, UNFCCC has facilitated the planning and execution of specific adaptation initiatives.
• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which rewards projects in developing countries that reduce emissions with credits that can be sold to nations or businesses that have a commitment to reduce emissions, is one of the creative solutions to climate change mitigation that the UNFCCC helped to create.
• National governments have promoted and enhanced collaboration on technology creation and transfer since the UNFCCC was established.
• Through efforts like the UNFCCC, which offers a venue for funding, technological transfers, talks, international collaborations, etc., developing nations are helped in their fight against climate change.

UNFCCC - Shortcomings

• Non-inclusive: The Kyoto Protocol primarily ignores the small particles produced by car engines and combustion-based power plants, which most scientists believe to be the most hazardous air pollutants in existence today.
• Slow Progress: It took the COP a long time to convince Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
• Unsustainable Targets: Up until 2005, the UNFCCC was unable to convince the USA to adopt the Kyoto Protocol, keeping one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters from making commitments.
• Unsatisfactory Response: Many nations, notably the leaders of low-lying nations who are threatened with unaffordable sea level rises due to global warming, lobbied for a harder aim of 1.5C.
• Financial Constraints: The agreement calls for wealthy nations to continue their $100 billion annual financing pledge until 2020, but numerous pacific island nations have argued that this is insufficient.
• Non-binding Agreement: The US's withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which it justified by claiming that it penalized it and would lose millions of American jobs, has increased pressure on other countries to meet the agreement's goals by erecting additional obstacles.
• The additional $2 billion that had been promised to the Green Climate Fund has not been paid as part of the US departure.
• No Enforcement Mechanism: Each nation determines, plans, and reports its own measures to reduce global warming under the Paris Agreement. The only sanction for non-compliance is a mechanism known as "name and shame" or "name and encourage" in which non-compliant nations are criticized and urged to make improvements.

UNFCCC and India

• In 1993, India ratified the UNFCCC. The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is India's nodal UNFCCC agency.
• India, a developing nation, is exempt from GHG reduction commitments due to its relatively low emissions as well as its limited financial and technological resources.
• At the Convention, India has been a vocal supporter of the concepts of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities, and respect for capability.
• This is mostly based on the idea that rich countries, which industrialized decades before other nations, are largely to blame for the high emission levels.
• According to the scientific analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from 1850 to 2012, the US, China, and the EU would each be responsible for 50% of the global temperature increase by 2100.
• The US, the European Union, and China each contributed 20%, 17%, and 12% of global emissions during the specified time period. India, on the other hand, only accounts for 5% of it.
• Another issue is that developing nations and LDCs would have to give environmental concerns less importance in favor of alleviating poverty and other developmental efforts.
• Therefore, they should have some latitude in evaluating their capacity to combat climate change.
• India has taken an active part in mitigating climate change because the nation is vulnerable to dangers like unpredictable monsoons and natural disasters like floods, droughts, landslides, etc.
• The National Environment Policy of 2006 encourages sustainable growth while also upholding natural boundaries and social justice requirements.
• The National Action Plan on Climate Change was introduced by the Indian government in 2008.
• India had committed to a number of goals at COP 21 (Paris Agreement) that were to be accomplished by 2030.
• One goal was to increase the amount of forest and tree cover by 2030 in order to produce an additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent to carbon sinks.
• The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure was founded in large part thanks to India.
• India reaffirmed at the UN climate negotiations held in Poland that the CBDR principle must be upheld despite rising worries that rich nations were attempting to weaken it.

Conclusion

Adaptation is increasingly playing a vital role in the fight against the effects of climate change. To advance the mitigation goals, a higher level of preparation on the part of all nations is needed. To reduce emissions and increase climate resilience, countries must compromise on their formerly rigid stances. It is completely legitimate for nations like India to demand that affluent nations meet the minimum requirement of keeping their current commitments before taking on an even more disproportionate share of the global mitigation load. India must keep pressuring wealthy nations in this way since major polluters' inaction has jeopardized the entire international system for addressing climate change.