Why in news?
- Tens of thousands will descend on Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), next week to attend the world’s biggest climate negotiation — Conference of the Parties, better known as COP.
- The 28thedition of COP is scheduled to be held in Dubai.
What’s in today’s article?
- Conference of the Parties (COP)
Conference of the Parties (COP)
- COP is the annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting
- In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, 154 countries signed a multilateral treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- It aimed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system.
- The treaty came into force two years later, and since then, countries which are part of the UNFCCC, meet every year at different venues.
- Today, there are 198 ‘parties’ or signatories of the Convention.
- COP was a result of a strong belief in the power of international agreements to tackle environmental problems
- Policymakers of that era believed in a unified commitment to deal with climate change.
- Their belief was strengthened by the success of:
- the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer, and
- a 1991 bilateral agreement between the US and Canada that helped combat acid rain by limiting the emission of sulphur dioxide (SO2).
- This led to the inception of UNFCCC.
- The first ever COP took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1995
- The first edition of COP entailed a discussion on how to implement the UNFCCC.
- At the meeting, an agreement was reached to meet annually to discuss action on climate change and emissions reductions.
- In the following two years, another deal was made that placed international obligations on the set of rich and industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by assigned amounts.
- The agreement would become the Kyoto Protocol as it was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, during the COP-3.
- COP meetings aim is to review progress towards the overall goal of limiting climate change
- The annual conference takes place to discuss a global agreement to cut emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main reason why average global temperatures have been rising.
- It mostly revolves around negotiations and debates.
- Sometimes, COP will result in new agreements and treaties, often with the goal of refining targets, agreeing rules or forming binding treaties, like the Kyoto Protocol.
- Each member country details how they are tackling climate change
- A crucial part of COP meetings is the review of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- An NDC is essentially a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts.
- It is submitted by those member countries which are also part of the Paris Agreement (2015) and is updated every five years.
- Paris Agreement (COP 21)
- The Paris Agreement, also known as COP21, is a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
- It was adopted by 196 parties at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, France in December 2015.
- The agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016.
- The Paris Agreement's main objectives are:
- Limit global warming: Keep global warming below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C
- Significantly Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2100
- Support countries: Strengthen countries' ability to deal with the impacts of climate change
- Provide financing to developing countries to mitigate climate change
