The Montreal Action Plan

The eleventh session of the conference took place between November 28 and December 9, 2005 in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). The Montreal Action Plan was one of the largest inter-governmental conference on climate change ever. The event marked the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. The Montreal Action Plan is an agreement hammered out at the end of the conference to ‘extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 expiration date and negotiate deeper cuts in greenhouse’gas emission’.

Bali Summit

The Bali Summit was held in December 2007 at Nusa Du a (Bali-Indonesia). Agreement on a timeline and structured negotiation on the post-2012 framework was achieved with the adoption of the Bali Action Plan the Adhoc Working Group on Long-term co-operative action under the Convention was established as a new subsidiary body to conduct the negotiations aimed at urgently enhancing the implementation of the Convention up and beyond 2012.

Poznan Summit

In December 2008 (Poland) the Poznan Summit was held. In this summit the delegates agreed on principles for financing of a fund to help the poorest nations to cope up with the effects of climate change and they approved a mechanism to incorporate forest protection into the efforts of the international community to combat climatic change.

Copenhagen Summit

The Convention on climatic change was held at the Bella Centre of Copenhagen in December 2009. is Conference was attended by 150 global leaders, ministers and officials from 192 countries. The overall goal of the Summit was to establish an ambitious global climate agreement from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires. The Conference did not achieve a binding agreement for long term action. A 13-paragraph ‘political accord’ was negotiated by approximately 25 parties including U.S.A. and China, but it was only noted by the ‘COP’ as it is considered an external document, not negotiated within the UNFCCC process. The accord was notable in that it referred to a collective commitment by developed countries for a few and investments through international institutions that will approach USD 30 billion for the period 2010-2012. The Summit emphasized on mobilization of financial resources for supporting reforestation efforts of developing countries.

Cancun Summit

The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held at Cancun, Mexico in December 2010. The conference is officially referred to as the 16th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In this conference, the Mexican Government committed to ensure that the participants’ mobilization and energy consumption during the conference results in the smallest environmental impact. A large amount of energy used during the conference came from renewable resources. A residual waste management programme was also discussed during the conference. The main points of the Cancun Agreement was signed by 193 nations. Bolivia however, refused to signed. The main agreements of the conference were as under:

According to the agreement there should be no gap between the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol which expires in December 2012 and the second phase. However, the agreements merely call on the developed countries to ‘raise the level of ambition of the emission reduction be achieved by them individually or collectively’ with a view to reducing their aggregate level of emission.

The agreement allows ability in choosing the base year for setting emission reduction targets. The mission trading and the project-based mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol shall continue to be available to Annex I Parties as means to meet their qualified emission limitation and reduction objectives. No binding emission reduction targets for the developed countries. Hence this agreement would have an impact on the Kyoto Protocol. The agreement forms a pledge and review system of voluntary emission reduction commitments. The idea is towards identifying a substance reducing emission by 2050. But no figures were mentioned.

The agreement recognize that deep cuts in global greenhouse gases emissions are required as documented in the Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC to curb the increase in global average temperature below 2oC above pre-industrial levels.

For the first time, the agreements emphasize that in all climate change related actions, human rights must be respected. They also recognize the need to engage with a broad range of stakeholders, including youth and persons with disability and effective participation of women and indigenous people in effective action on all aspects of climate change.

The agreement proposes a Cancun Adaptation Framework to strengthen and address implementation of action and various kinds of assessments, apart from research and development and a host of issues. The agreements propose to enhance transparency by the developing countries and emphasize the role of market-based mechanisms to promote mitigation action.

On finance, the agreement calls for information on the fast start finance promised in 2009 at Copenhagen by the developed countries. They endorse the pledge by the developed countries to provide $100 billion annually till 2020 and say that a significant of this new multilateral funding should w through the Green Climate Fund, which is also established. The technology mechanism will facilitate technology development and transfer, through a technology Executive Committee and a Climate Technology Centre and Network. The Climate Technology Centre will guide and manage several regional technological centers of hubs all over the world which will help to d and develop innovations and technologies.