scholarly journals The future of combating climate change: how to share the burden among countries? A Swiss perspective

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beat Nobs
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Small Country ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
The Future ◽  
The United Nations

I would like to contribute to the ongoing discussion on this topic by adding two elements. Firstly, it might be interesting to shed some light on how another small country – Switzerland – tackles the issue of climate change. Secondly, it is useful to remember at all times that it is in the negotiation room itself, where– regardless of all the statements by governments or by scientists outside of that room – the decisions on a future climate regime will finally be taken. What are the conditions to be met for a breakthrough at the Copenhagen conference to be held in December 2009 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)? 

scholarly journals Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Klein ◽  
◽  
Katy Harris ◽  
Inès Bakhtaoui ◽  
Andrea Lindblom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
The Real ◽  
Climate Negotiations ◽  
The Future ◽  
Fit For Purpose ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Business As Usual

Could the future of our planet be decided on Zoom? The feasibility of “online climate negotiations” was the issue the OnCliNe project initially set out to assess. However, experiences over the last 18 months illustrated that many of the diverse activities organised under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could be held online, albeit with challenges. The real question was whether they could be held in ways that increase the effectiveness, inclusiveness and transparency of the UNFCCC process. This report reflects the sentiment of many stakeholders that there is an opportunity to harness the interruption and introspection that the pandemic imposed into a “positive disruption” of the process. If actions taken now can transcend the tendency to return to “business as usual” as soon as circumstances allow, and instead work towards a meaningful transformation of the climate talks, the UNFCCC process can be made more fit for purpose for tackling one of humanity’s greatest challenges. This will require creativity, courage, and active and decisive leadership.

scholarly journals Global climate adaptation governance: Why is it not legally binding?

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 540-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hall ◽  
Åsa Persson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The Body ◽  
Global Public Good ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
The United Nations

In the last decade, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has moved from a strong focus on mitigation to increasingly address adaptation. Climate change is no longer simply about reducing emissions, but also about enabling countries to deal with its impacts. Yet, most studies of the climate regime have focused on the evolution of mitigation governance and overlooked the increasing number of adaptation-related decisions and initiatives. In this article, we identify the body of rules and commitments on adaptation and suggest that there are more attempts to govern adaptation than many mitigation-focused accounts of the international climate regime would suggest. We then ask: to what degree are adaptation rules and commitments legalized in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change? We examine the degree of precision and obligation of relevant decisions through an extensive analysis of primary United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change documents, secondary literature on adaptation initiatives and institutions, interviews with climate change experts and negotiators, and participant observation at climate negotiations. Our analysis finds that adaptation governance is low in precision and obligation. We suggest that this is partly because adaptation is a contested global public good and because ‘package deals’ are made with mitigation commitments. This article makes a vital contribution to the global environmental politics literature given that adaptation governance is under-studied and poorly understood. It also contributes to the legalization literature by highlighting how contested global public goods may be governed globally, but with low obligation and precision.

Paris Agreement

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 740-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara A. Horowitz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Global Response ◽  
United Nations Framework Convention ◽  
The United Nations

The Paris Agreement sets forth a new international legal regime aimed at strengthening the global response to climate change. It was adopted in December 2015 at the annual gathering of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement sits within and implements the Convention.

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