UNFCCC (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Env and Eco)

Context: The 60th Session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Bodies recently commenced, with all eyes expectedly on climate finance this year.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

• About: It is the primary multilateral treaty governing actions to combat climate change through adaptation and mitigation efforts directed at control of emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) that cause global warming.
• Also known as: Bonn Climate Change Conference.
• Signed: 1992.
• Objective: To stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system, in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development.
• Considered a legally non-binding agreement: The treaty sets limits on GHG emissions in countries, but these are not binding and there are no enforcement mechanisms either.

o However, there are provisions for updates or protocols that can be used to set legally binding emission limits on countries.

• The parties to the convention meet annually in the Conference of the Parties or COP to review the progress under the convention.
• Secretariat: Bonn, Germany
• It is Parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement and 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
• Established an international environmental treaty: to combat “dangerous human interference with the climate system”, in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.