— Aishwarya Sanas

(The Indian Express has launched a new series of articles for UPSC aspirants written by seasoned writers and scholars on issues and concepts spanning History, Polity, International Relations, Art, Culture and Heritage, Environment, Geography, Science and Technology, and so on. Read and reflect with subject experts and boost your chance of cracking the much-coveted UPSC CSE. In the following article, Aishwarya Sanas, a doctoral researcher working on the politics of cryosphere and global environmental governance, looks into the history of climate governance.)

In the run-up to the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), it was touted as “the finance COP”, while the ‘New Quantified Climate Goal (NQCG)’ was among the key priority issues to be discussed therein.

In that context, the green signal for a global carbon market – one of the ways to deliver on the NCQG by helping in meeting emissions targets and channelling climate finance – is seen as a significant breakthrough on the first day of the global climate summit that kicked off on Monday (November 11) and will continue until November 22. 

In the midst of the expectations and demands surrounding various agendas at the ongoing conference, understanding the history of climate governance is crucial. 

An important event in the COP history was the formation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. The IPCC was established jointly by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). The main objectives of IPCC are to produce assessment reports, special reports, and methodology reports that assess scientific knowledge on climate change and provide potential response strategies.

While the IPCC is now recognised as a boundary organisation operating at the intersection of science and policy, the science of climate change in the 1980s was fraught with uncertainty, opposition, and limited information. The publication of the IPCC’s first report in 1990 marked a turning point, leading to calls for a global treaty on climate change. 

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was established by the UN General Assembly on 11 December 1990 to negotiate the first global treaty on climate change. The committee held five sessions between 1991 and 1992 during which several contentious debates and political issues were discussed. 

Their efforts finally led to the development of the Framework Convention document. The establishment of the IPCC and the INC together marked a pivotal moment in the history of climate change politics.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty, signed in 1992, that has provided a basis for climate negotiations. 

The Framework Convention on Climate Change was opened for signature on 19 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Earth Summit. Alongside it, two other sister conventions were introduced: the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The Framework Convention entered into force on 21 March 1994. 

The most remarkable feature of the UNFCCC is that it was a framework convention that provided a base upon which the infrastructure of climate governance has been built.

It allowed and accommodated an extensive system of rules, mechanisms, processes, multiple actors and systems within it. The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to ‘stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-caused) interference with the climate system’.

The UNFCCC established foundational principles that guide international climate action. Chief among these principles is “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” (CBDR-RC), recognising the fact that while all countries share a responsibility to address climate change, their obligations differ according to their capacities and circumstances.

The convention also emphasises data collection, knowledge-building, and transparency in communication as crucial elements for building trust and ensuring accountability in international climate efforts.

The UNFCCC laid down ambitious objectives for addressing climate change, but the framework itself was not sufficient and there was a need for establishing further processes to build the convention and strengthen its objectives. 

Over time, the Framework Convention paved the way for the development of institutions, processes and structures, aimed at enhancing global cooperation, such as the establishment of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which serves as the convention’s governing body. Each year, the COP brings together representatives of the Parties (countries that have ratified the UNFCCC) to assess progress, negotiate further agreements, and refine commitments.

Conference of the Parties or COP is the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum that brings together almost every country on the planet to formulate and implement policy responses to climate change collectively. Currently, there are 198 parties (197 countries plus the European Union) to the UNFCCC. 

The first COP, held in Berlin, Germany, in 1995, is notable for the Berlin Mandate, which marked a significant step forward. During this meeting, the need for legally binding commitments for developed nations was agreed upon. 

The Berlin Mandate set the groundwork for the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol at the COP3 which took place in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol is often referred to as the first greenhouse gas emissions reduction treaty. It introduced legally binding targets specifically for developed countries, known as Annex I Parties under the UNFCCC, which were given emission target that is the maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a Party may emit over a specified commitment period. 

This Kyoto Protocol marked a significant step in international climate policy by establishing legally binding emission reduction targets for developed countries. The move reinforced the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) that had been introduced in the 1992 UNFCCC.

In addition, the Kyoto Protocol introduced three mechanisms to facilitate emissions trading between developed and developing countries: International Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and the Joint Implementation. 

The Kyoto Protocol officially came into force on 16 February 2005 after it was ratified by a sufficient number of countries. Any meeting that discusses or builds upon the Kyoto Protocol at the annual COP meetings is known as the Conference of the Parties for the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). 

This CMP designation signifies that it specifically pertains to negotiations and agreements under the Kyoto framework rather than the broader UNFCCC.

In the subsequent conventions, new categories or negotiating processes were introduced, such as adaptation, mitigation, technology, finance, gender equality, indigenous knowledge systems, loss and damage, and transparency. Each of these areas has evolved into important topics of negotiations with multiple processes and structures within their frameworks.  

What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and when was it signed?

How does the UNFCCC serve as a basis for climate negotiations, and why is it considered foundational to international climate action?

How does the COP facilitate global cooperation and further negotiations on climate action each year?

What was the Berlin Mandate, and how did it contribute to the development of the Kyoto Protocol?

What is meant by “emission targets,” and how does the Kyoto Protocol enforce these targets for Annex I countries?

(Aishwarya Sanas is a doctoral researcher at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, Delhi NCR. In the next article, the writer will examine previous COP achievements and assess the opportunities and challenges India faces in the global climate negotiations.)

Share your thoughts and ideas on UPSC Special articles with ashiya.parveen@indianexpress.com.

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week.

Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.