Climate Change: Impacts and Responses Topic 9: Climate Change Policy and Regulation

 Introduction  Policy instruments  International climate change agreements  Recent negotiations and developments Topic outline Image: UN Photo, Frank Leather

Learning outcomes for this topic  Describe a variety of policy instruments for enabling globally equitable climate change mitigation and adaptation  Describe the operations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto protocol  Explain the steps forward that have been made by the UNFCC  Give an account of the problems and barriers that have been encountered  Discuss recent developments in climate change negotiations

Section 1: Introduction

 Why do we need global policy frameworks?  Key features of global climate change policy Outline: Introduction

Why do we need a global policy framework? Opening of the UN climate change conference in Durban (COP 17) Image: UN Photo, Jan Golinski

Key features of global climate change policy  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiated in Rio 1992  Three key principles:  Equity and common but differentiated responsibilities  The precautionary principle  Sustainable development

Section 2: Types of policy instruments

 Regulations and standards  Taxes and charges  Tradable permits  Voluntary agreements  Subsidies and financial incentives  Research and development programmes  Information instruments Outline: Types of policy instruments

Regulations and standards  Technology standards specify methods of production or methods for pollution abatement  Performance standards specify environmental outcomes, but polluting firms have greater choice about how to reach them. Image: UN photo, Rick Bajornas

Emissions taxes, charges or fees are paid by emitters per unit of emissions. Schemes can be effective but do not ensure a particular emissions level is reached. Taxes and charges Image: UN photo, Kibae Park

Tradable permits Image:

 Agreements negotiated between governments and groups of companies  Preferred by companies as they enable leadership on decisions around emission reduction strategies Voluntary agreements

Subsidies and financial incentives  Politically popular  Widely used by governments around the world to support national industries  Fossil fuel industries continue to be highly subsidized  Renewable energy subsidies can help a market get established  Subsidies should eventually be phased out Image: UN photo, Pasqual Gorriz

Research and development programmes

 Product labelling  Disclosure programmes  Public awareness campaigns Information instruments Image : Iyzadanger and Diliff

 Environmental effectiveness  Cost-effectiveness  Distributional considerations  Institutional feasibility How effective are policy instruments?

Section 3: International climate change agreements

 The landscape of climate agreements and institutions  What is the UNFCCC and who is included?  A brief history leading up to the UNFCCC  How does the UNFCCC operate?  What is the Kyoto Protocol?  Parties to the Kyoto Protocol  Mechanisms  Successes and failures Outline: International climate change agreements

The landscape of climate agreements and institutions IPCC AR5 WGIII, 2014; Fig 13.1

Aims to: “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner” - Article 2, UNFCCC The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

 1972 – UNEP  1979 – 1 st World Climate Conference  1988 – IPCC  1990 – IPCC 1 st Assessment Report  1991 – International Negotiating Committee  May 1992 – INC adopts the UNFCCC text  June 1992 – Rio Earth Summit: UNFCCC opened for signature  1994 – UNFCCC “entered into force”  1995 – 1 st Conference of the Parties (COP1) to the UNFCCC A brief history leading up to the UNFCCC

 The Conference of the Parties (COP) – supreme decision making body  Parties: Annex I – industrialised countries and countries with economies in transition) Annex II – as Annex I, but excluding countries with economies in transition Non-Annex I – mostly developing countries  Other bodies to support the UNFCCC have been set up Operations of the UNFCCC

Opening of COP 3, Kyoto, Japan, 1997 The Kyoto Protocol UN Image – Frank Leather

Parties to the Kyoto Protocol Signatories of the Kyoto Protocol Image: L. Tak

 Emissions Trading – trading emissions permits to meet targets  Joint Implementation – investing in emission reduction projects in other Annex I countries  Clean Development – investing in emission reduction projects in developing countries The mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol

Australian Prime Minister Ratifies the Kyoto Protocol in 2007 How successful has the Kyoto Protocol been? UN Image: Evan Schneider

Section 4: Recent negotiations and developments

 Bali Road Map  COP Copenhagen  Cancun agreements  Durban outcomes  Doha climate gateway  The future: COP 2015 Paris Outline: Recent negotiations and developments

COP 13 - Bali Road Map, Indonesia (2007) Ambitious plan for a new global climate deal is launched Image: UN Photo, Evan Schneider

COP15 - Copenhagen, Denmark (2009) Hopes for a new climate deal were dashed at Copenhagen Image: UN photo, Mark Garten

COP 16 - Cancun agreements, Mexico (2010) Expectations were reduced and some progress was made Image: UN Photo, Paulo Filgueiras

COP17 - Durban outcomes, South Africa (2011) New global deal to be ready by 2015, to come into force in 2020 Image: UN photo, Mark Garten

COP18 0 Doha Climate Gateway, Qatar (2012) Kyoto Protocol extended Image: UN photo, Mark Garten

The future: COP21 Paris, France (2015) Image: F. de la Mure/ MAE

 “Common but differentiated responsibility”  Types of policy instruments  The UNFCCC  The Kyoto Protocol  Recent negotiations and progress in reaching a global climate change deal Summary

IPCC (2014). Summary for Policymakers In: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. IPCC (2007). Summary for Policymakers In: Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Metz B. (2010). Controlling Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. (2007) The Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: International Emissions Trading, Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation. Available at: References

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