The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) (1989–2001) was an international lobbyist group of businesses that opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and engaged in climate change denial,publicly challenging the science behind global warming. The GCC was the largest industry group active in climate policy and the most prominent industry advocate in international climate negotiations. The GCC was involved in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol,and played a role in blocking ratification by the United States. The coalition knew it could not deny the scientific consensus,but sought to sow doubt over the scientific consensus on climate change and create manufactured controversy.
The Kyoto Protocol (Japanese:京都議定書,Hepburn:Kyōto Giteisho) was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and that human-made CO2 emissions are driving it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto,Japan,on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There were 192 parties (Canada withdrew from the protocol,effective December 2012) to the Protocol in 2020.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the UN process for negotiating an agreement to limit dangerous climate change. It is an international treaty among countries to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system". The main way to do this is limiting the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It was signed in 1992 by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED),informally known as the Earth Summit,held in Rio de Janeiro. The treaty entered into force on 21 March 1994. "UNFCCC" is also the name of the Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the convention,with offices on the UN Campus in Bonn,Germany.
Stuart Elliott Eizenstat is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001. For many years,and currently he has served as a partner and Senior Counsel at the Washington,D.C.–based law firm Covington &Burling and as a senior strategist at APCO Worldwide.
Post-Kyoto negotiations refers to high level talks attempting to address global warming by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Generally part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),these talks concern the period after the first "commitment period" of the Kyoto Protocol,which expired at the end of 2012. Negotiations have been mandated by the adoption of the Bali Road Map and Decision 1/CP.13.
The Byrd–Hagel Resolution was a United States Senate Resolution passed unanimously with a vote of 95–0 on 25 July 1997,sponsored by Senators Chuck Hagel and Robert Byrd. The resolution stated that the US should not sign a climate treaty that would 'mandate new commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the Annex I Parties,unless ...[it]... also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties within the same compliance period',or would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States. This effectively prohibited the US from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.
The climate change policy of the United States has major impacts on global climate change and global climate change mitigation. This is because the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world after China,and is among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. Cumulatively,the United States has emitted over a trillion metric tons of greenhouse gases,more than any country in the world.
The Copenhagen Accord is a document which delegates at the 15th session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to "take note of" at the final plenary on 18 December 2009.
The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Cancún,Mexico,from 29 November to 10 December 2010. The conference is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (CMP 6) to the Kyoto Protocol. In addition,the two permanent subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC —the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) —held their 33rd sessions. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference extended the mandates of the two temporary subsidiary bodies,the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA),and they met as well.
Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican diplomat who has led national,international and multilateral policy negotiations. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July 2010,six months after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. During the next six years she worked to rebuild the global climate change negotiating process,leading to the 2015 Paris Agreement,widely recognized as a historic achievement.
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A number of governments across the world took a variety of actions.
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation,adaptation,and finance. The Paris Agreement was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris,France. As of February 2023,195 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. Of the three UNFCCC member states which have not ratified the agreement,the only major emitter is Iran. The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2020,but rejoined in 2021.
The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17) was held in Durban,South Africa,from 28 November to 11 December 2011 to establish a new treaty to limit carbon emissions.
The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 18th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The conference took place from Monday 26 November to Saturday 8 December 2012,at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha.
The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties –the Conference of the Parties (COP) –to assess progress in dealing with climate change,and beginning in the mid-1990s,to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2005 the conferences have also served as the "Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" (CMP);also parties to the convention that are not parties to the protocol can participate in protocol-related meetings as observers. From 2011 to 2015,the meetings were used to negotiate the Paris Agreement as part of the Durban platform,which created a general path towards climate action. Any final text of a COP must be agreed by consensus.
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference,COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris,France,from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
The 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference was an international meeting of political leaders and activists to discuss environmental issues. It was held in Marrakech,Morocco,on 7–18 November 2016. The conference incorporated the twenty-second Conference of the Parties (COP22),the twelfth meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12),and the first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA1). The purpose of the conference was to discuss and implement plans about combatting climate change and to "[demonstrate] to the world that the implementation of the Paris Agreement is underway". Participants work together to come up with global solutions to climate change.
Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is a principle that was formalized in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,1992. The CBDR principle is mentioned in UNFCCC article 3 paragraph 1..,and article 4 paragraph 1. It was the first international legal instrument to address climate change and the most comprehensive international attempt to address negative impacts to global environment. The CBDR principle acknowledges that all states have shared obligation to address environmental destruction but denies equal responsibility of all states with regard to environmental protection.
Abigail Borah is an American environmental activist who interrupted Todd Stern at the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference and who co-founded Race to Replace Vermont Yankee.
