UN Climate Research Articles

Climate-related community knowledge networks as a tool to increase learning in the context of environmental change

Statements made at the recent UN Climate Conference 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) clearly indicated that Pacific islands, countries, and territories (PICTs) are particularly susceptible to sociocultural, economic and environmental impacts of climate change. The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) are one such group of islands where internal and external climate forcing has observable detrimental impacts on local public health, water quality, agriculture and resource management. Here, we present the outcomes of a collaboration between graduate students and a PICTs-focused non-profit organization to facilitate a climate-related knowledge network that addresses adaptation to climate-related vulnerabilities in Pohnpei, FSM. Through a series of workshops targeting K-8 science teachers, this network strengthens lines of communication between educators, resource managers, stakeholders and environmental leaders and provides a forum for ongoing information exchange to encourage adaptation to climate change in island communities. Additionally, teacher participation in the workshops resulted in a marked increase in community engagement in other local and regional educational venues. We propose that the knowledge network piloted here serves as an interdisciplinary model of a sustainable educational partnership that can be adapted for use in a multitude of PICT communities to improve preparedness and reduce susceptibility to climate-associated stressors, thereby providing an example of means to achieve key goals of the COP23.

Development of the United Nations Climate Change Regime and its Socio-economic Impressions on Pakistan (1992-2016): An Appraisal

The United Nations Climate Change Regime, planned in 1992, and formally established in 1994 through the inauguration of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), under its mandate to address climate change at the global level, provides a great deal of support to maintain global climate control through different institutions in the capacity building of developing states in health, poverty reduction, green energy, and the transfer of carbon dioxide reduction technology. This study intends to ascertain the development of the UN climate change regime and its role in Pakistan's socio-economic development for a sustainable climate from 1992 to 2016. The variables to determine the degree of UNFCCC's efforts in Pakistan include public health, poverty reduction, agricultural improvement, carbon dioxide emission control, international trade collaboration, and gender-oriented societal improvements. The study highlights the impact of efforts on these lines and the possible incentives to crop up substantially the fruits of the given considerable opportunity to develop the socioeconomic slant positively. This exploratory study is based on primary and secondary data, annual reports of different UN organs, especially the UNFCCC, official data from the Ministry of Climate Change Pakistan, surveys, interviews from the field experts, and peer-reviewed published research.

Beyond headline mitigation numbers: we need more transparent and comparable NDCs to achieve the Paris Agreement on climate change

Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) were key to reaching the Paris Agreement and will be instrumental in implementing it. Research was quick to identify the ‘headline numbers’ of NDCs: if these climate action plans were fully implemented, global mean warming by 2100 would be reduced from approximately 3.6 to 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels (Höhne et al. Climate Pol 17:1–17, 2016; Rogelj et al. Nature 534:631–639, 2016). However, beyond these headline mitigation numbers, NDCs are more difficult to analyse and compare. UN climate negotiations have so far provided limited guidance on NDC formulation, which has resulted in varying scopes and contents of NDCs, often lacking details concerning ambitions. If NDCs are to become the long-term instrument for international cooperation, negotiation, and ratcheting up of ambitions to address climate change, then they need to become more transparent and comparable, both with respect to mitigation goals, and to issues such as adaptation, finance, and the way in which NDCs are aligned with national policies. Our analysis of INDCs and NDCs (Once a party ratifies the Paris Agreement, it is invited to turn its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) into an NDC. We refer to results from our INDC analysis rather than our NDC analysis in this commentary unless otherwise stated.) shows that they omit important mitigation sectors, do not adequately provide details on costs and financing of implementation, and are poorly designed to meet assessment and review needs.

Выход США из Парижского соглашения - что дальше?

In June 2017, President Trump announced the USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, which had been ratified for less than a year, thanks in large part to the USA. That drastic shift followed the change in residency at the White House. Withdrawing from the Paris Accord presents an interesting topic for analysis. There’s the practical side of the withdrawal procedure as set out in Article 28 of the agreement, not to mention the consequences of US non-participation in addressing international climate issues. There are other international forums (Such as G8 and G20), which also have an interest in climate related topics.The Article analyses the U.S. position in negotiations and its commitments assumed the moment the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came into effect until now: the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, financial aid and reporting. It also provides general analysis of national legal obligations under the Paris Accord, ratification of that agreement in general and in particularly another that took place in the USA, it focuses on the specifics of withdrawal. The specified three-year period from the Agreement becoming active, after which any party may withdraw from it (2019), is a noteworthy detail.It is well-known that the Paris Agreement provides a framework that does not impose individual national commitments or a commitment to a compliance system. In essence, and from a legal point of view, it is non-binding. This was what allowed the USA to accept the terms of the accord relatively quickly and to use the simplified procedure, which by-passed Congress. In the opinion of the authors, President Trump’s resolution to withdraw should, possibly, be considered as a simple continuation of his election discourse and the fulfilment of a campaign promise. Additionally, President Trump’s declared intent to review the Paris Accord has legal grounds on which to launch further international negotiations, consequently that will never come to pass.The Article was been written based on the analysis of resolutions passed at conferences attended by parties to the UNFCCC, other UN documents and international forums, the laws and regulations of the Russian Federation, information published by international legal experts and mass media coverage of the topic.The Article sums up the consequences of US withdrawal from the Paris Accord, noting that the Agreement’s status will not change after the USA withdraws. The Accord will remain in force having become effective in 2016 and the US will remain a party to the fundamental UN Climate Convention. The reduction in contributions to the Green Climate Fund will undoubtedly limit the project’s potential in developing economies. A ‘domino effect’ is not inconceivable - with similar resolutions following the U.S. example, Turkey for example has announced the likelihood that it too will suspend ratification. There is though still time before 2019 for the U.S. to change its position.

Парижское соглашение: новый компонент климатического режима ООН

The Paris Agreement, which was adopted in December 2015 and entered into force less than a year later, is the newest instrument to be adopted in the United Nations-sponsored global climate regime. The Paris Agreement takes its place under the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change and next to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and 2012 Doha Amendment. After describing the historical evolution of the UN climate regime employing the tools of international law, this Article explores the structural, institutional, and legal relationships between the new Paris Agreement and the prior development and content of UN-sponsored efforts on climate protection under the auspices of the 1992 Framework Convention. The need for such an analysis is particularly urgent because the new instrument was purposely not identified as a “protocol,” and its relationship to the prior Kyoto Protocol is unclear.This Article consequently traces the development of the universal, UN-anchored climate regime from its origins in the 1990s to the present moment, with particular attention to the structural relationship among its various components and historical junctures. The Article then examines the text and structure of the Paris Agreement, along with its context, against this background. The significance of the Agreement’s status as an instrument other than a “protocol,” and its uncertain textual and institutional relationship to the prior Kyoto Protocol, receive particular scrutiny. The Article concludes that the Paris Agreement, from a structural and institutional point of view, represents both a break with the past designed to initiate a new, globally-inclusive multilateral approach to climate protection, but also contains indications of continuity with prior questions of global climate policy.

Do national strategies under the UN biodiversity and climate conventions address agricultural commodity consumption as deforestation driver?

Forest conversion in the tropics is increasingly driven by global demand for agricultural forest-risk commodities such as soy, beef, palm oil and timber. In order to be effective, future forest conservation policies should include measures targeting both producers (the supply side) and consumers (the demand side) to address commodity-driven deforestation. Whereas the UN Conventions on Biodiversity (CBD) and Climate Change (UNFCCC) do not make reference to this driving factor, here we explore whether and how recent national strategies by member states to the Conventions acknowledge the role of agricultural commodities in tropical deforestation. A text analysis of 139 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to climate change mitigation and 132 National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) shows that the general trade-off between national development aspirations and forest conservation is commonly acknowledged. However, only few strategies link deforestation to commodity production and consumption, whereas most documents do not mention this topic. This lack of reference to a key driver of tropical deforestation limits the prospects of safeguarding tropical forests for biodiversity and climate change mitigation purposes as part of the two UN Conventions, and might jeopardise their overall effectiveness.These findings were complemented by a content analysis of INDCs, NBSAPs and REDD+ documents from eight case countries affected by commodity-driven deforestation. We investigated whether this driver is acknowledged in the national strategies, and which policy measures are suggested to address forest loss from agricultural commodities. We found that six case countries mention agricultural commodities as deforestation driver in their REDD+ documents, whereas the biodiversity and climate change strategies were silent on the topic. Policy measures targeting commodity production were suggested in four REDD+ strategies, ranging from incentive payments, sustainable agricultural practices and land-use planning to demand-side approaches such as certification and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles.One conclusion from this exercise is that UN member states seem not to consider climate and biodiversity national plans the adequate forum to discuss detailed forest conservation approaches. We argue that in order to increase effectiveness, strategies under the UN Conventions should take commodity-driven deforestation into account, through measures that address both the producer and the consumer side.

Switched off

UN climate events are a wasted opportunity for public engagement, says Adam Corner

Odd one out

With Syria's decision to join the Paris Agreement on climate change, the US now stands alone. The war-torn state had been one of only two nations rejecting or refusing to sign the accord after a third holdout--Nicaragua--announced in September it was in. Syria is a dysfunctional basket-case of a failed state. Its economy is broken and its emissions small. Yet its intention to join the Paris deal, announced last week at the annual UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, is symbolic, but not for obvious reasons. Here, Gaffney talks about the silver lining of president Donald Trump's decision to not partake in the Paris agreement.

The appeasement effect of a United Nations climate summit on the German public

As a global media event, COP 21 had the potential to enhance understanding and motivate political action. This study shows that although media coverage reached the German public and promoted conference-specific knowledge, this did not translate into active engagement. The annual UN climate summits receive intense global media coverage1,2,3, and as such could engage local publics around the world, stimulate debate and knowledge about climate politics, and, ultimately, mobilize people to combat climate change. Here we show that, in contrast to these hopes, although the German public were exposed to news about the 2015 Paris summit, they did not engage with it in a more active way. Comparing knowledge and attitudes before, during and after the summit using a three-wave online panel survey (quota sample, N = 1,121), we find that respondents learnt a few basic facts about the conference but they continue to lack basic background knowledge about climate policy. Trust in global climate policy increased a little, but citizens were less inclined to support a leading role for Germany in climate politics. Moreover, they were not more likely to engage personally in climate protection. These results suggest that this global media event had a modest appeasing rather than mobilizing effect.

Arctic Indigenous Societal Security at COP21: The Divergence of Security Discourse and Instruments in Climate Negotiations

In UN climate change conferences, there exists a disconnect between the space for and use of Arctic cultural heritage as a catalyst for action and parallel international legal and financial support for climate adaptation and mitigation in the North. This article aims to unpack this divergence of creating a space for societal security discourse and producing tangible climate commitments to Arctic Indigenous peoples in UN climate negotiations. The article surveys and explores visual and textual narratives pertaining to Arctic heritage at COP21 focusing on regional Indigenous political organizations and representatives. It contends both that societal security is to maintain Arctic indigenous culture in its traditional state from changes in the climate and that societal security is to protect indigenous culture from harm or destruction while allowing it to live, change and develop in its own accord to assist with climate mitigation and adaptation actions. The article then turns to the resulting Paris Agreement and Paris Road Map to survey specific legal, financial, and policy support mechanisms for Arctic Indigenous peoples. The article argues that the space for and use of Arctic Indigenous societal security discourses at COP21 are uneven with the resulting global policy initiatives, and do not adequately support the security of current cultural practices and heritage in the Arctic.

Measurement of public awareness of climate change in China: based on a national survey with 4,025 samples

Just before the new round of UN climate change conference in Bonn, a survey report, named as the Climate Change in the Chinese Mind 2017, was released in Beijing. The investigation was cond...

Post-Paris / Post-Trump: The Green Climate Fund and Climate Finance Governance in the Eye of the Storm

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), established in 2010, is a significant and potentially innovative addition to the frameworks in place under the UN Climate Convention to mobilise finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation. In addition to its challenges of operationalisation as a new international fund, the GCF confronts further difficulties as a result of US President Donald Trump's June announcement that the United States would renege on its pledged contributions to the GCF and withdraw from the Paris Agreement. As a result, the GCF faces a major reduction in actual contributions from the projected amount, as well as potential governance challenges at the levels of its Board and the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP), to which the GCF is ultimately accountable. This paper analyses these challenges with reference to the GCF's internal regulations and its agreements with third parties such as the United States. It goes on to discuss how COP-mandated design features of the GCF can be built upon to strengthen the GCF's resilience in the face of such challenges. These features are the GCF's linkages with UNFCCC constituted bodies, in particular the Technology Mechanism, and its engagement with non-Party stakeholders, especially through the Private Sector Facility. It is argued that deepening GCF engagement with both the Technology Mechanism and non-Party stakeholders would increase both the coherence of climate finance governance and the GCF's ability to contribute to ambitious climate action in uncertain times.

The stakeholder model paradox: How the globalisation of politics fuels domestic advocacy

AbstractOne of the central assumptions underlying the stakeholder model is that strengthened opportunities for involvement of non-state actors in political procedures hold significant promise for making those procedures more democratically legitimate. However, recent studies show that more open international organisations (IOs) are not perceived as more legitimate by non-state actors. In this article we explore one potential reason to explain this apparent paradox, investigating whether, and under what conditions, strengthened opportunities of stakeholder involvement enable the effective representation of global constituencies. The article shows that globalisation and politicisation of IOs go hand in hand with greater political activity by non-state actors defending domestic, rather than global, interests. Globalisation and politicisation may thus contribute to the exponential growth of the community of non-state actors active at IOs, but they do not make such community more globalised in nature. The article also illustrates that granting greater access to stakeholders in international institutions can somehow mitigate the effects of this underlying structural factors, and that institutional openness disproportionally fosters political activity by civic, rather than business, global stakeholders. We advance these arguments relying on a novel dataset including over eight thousand organisations active at the UN climate conferences and the WTO Ministerial Conferences.

Introduction to International Climate Change Law

Introductory chapter to new treatise on international climate change. The chapter (a) provides a brief overview of the climate change problem; (b) describes three perspectives on the problem (environmental, economic, and ethical); (c) delineates the boundaries of international climate change law; (d) introduces three recurring themes in the development of the UN climate change regime (legal bindingness, architecture; and differentiation), and (e) introduces the broader context of international climate change law, including its relationship to other areas of international law and to polycentric climate change governance.

African Union – Support for UN Climate Deal

Africa Research Bulletin: Economic, Financial and Technical SeriesVolume 54, Issue 5 p. 21701A-21701A Continental Developments African Union – Support for UN Climate Deal First published: 04 July 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6346.2017.07696.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume54, Issue5July 2017Pages 21701A-21701A RelatedInformation

From innovation to penetration: Calculating the energy transition time lag for motor vehicles

To meet the targets laid down in the Paris agreement and in the European Union's climate policy documents, road vehicle fleets will have to undergo a massive energy transition in the decades ahead. New vehicles acquired need to be distinctly superior to the old vehicles scrapped, in terms of their energy efficiency and/or carbon intensity.To keep track of the process of vehicle fleet renewal and assess its time scale and potential for energy conservation and greenhouse gas mitigation, stock-flow modeling is a useful tool. The bottom-up stock-flow cohort model ensures coherence between the stock in any given year and the annual flows of scrapping, deregistration, new vehicle acquisitions, and second-hand vehicle import and export. It can be constructed from a few years’ segmented data on the vehicle stocks and their annual mileage.As evidenced by our stock-flow model for Norwegian registered vehicles, it may take 5–25 years, in some cases even longer, before innovations affecting the flow of new vehicles have penetrated similarly into the stock. This energy transition time lag would tend to increase with the speed of innovation and with the target level of penetration, but decrease with the velocity of vehicle turnover.

Counter-terrorism in the EU’s external relations

The renewed emphasis on national political boundaries across Europe would seem to go hand-in-hand with a weaker external personality for the EU. However, there are several prominent examples of EU leadership that challenge this notion, from the December 2015 UN climate change agreement to common sanctions again Russia to a new Global Strategy. This paper examines a policy area that lies at the intersection of populist outrage and external engagement: counter-terrorism. In the wake of the 2015 and 2016 Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks, the EU has made significant strides in enhancing the external dimension of its counter-terrorism policies, particularly in terms of intelligence sharing, formal and informal diplomacy, and the internal–external nexus of security. The article argues that major terrorist attacks in 2015–2016 have served as critical junctures of crisis, driving counter-terrorism policies forward and emphasising the notion of European boundaries beyond any functionalist or securitization explanation.

Making climate governance global: how UN climate summitry comes to matter in a complex climate regime

ABSTRACTThis article examines the role the UNFCCC plays in a polycentric climate regime complex. Through an extended questionnaire survey at the UN Climate Conferences in Warsaw (2013), Lima (2014) and Paris (2015), we study what government delegates and non-state observers see as the main purpose of UN climate summitry and their roles therein. Only a minority of these actors attend UN Climate Conferences to actively influence the outcome of the intergovernmental negotiation process. Instead, most come to these meetings to network, build interpersonal relationships, learn from each other and foster a sense of community across scales of difference. The ability of the UNFCCC to bring together different actors across time and space, to perform multiple policy tasks, has become one of its notable strengths and is an important facilitative practice that holds the polycentric regime complex together.

Negative CO2 emissions via enhanced silicate weathering in coastal environments.

Negative emission technologies (NETs) target the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, and are being actively investigated as a strategy to limit global warming to within the 1.5–2°C targets of the 2015 UN climate agreement. Enhanced silicate weathering (ESW) proposes to exploit the natural process of mineral weathering for the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. Here, we discuss the potential of applying ESW in coastal environments as a climate change mitigation option. By deliberately introducing fast-weathering silicate minerals onto coastal sediments, alkalinity is released into the overlying waters, thus creating a coastal CO2 sink. Compared with other NETs, coastal ESW has the advantage that it counteracts ocean acidification, does not interfere with terrestrial land use and can be directly integrated into existing coastal management programmes with existing (dredging) technology. Yet presently, the concept is still at an early stage, and so two major research challenges relate to the efficiency and environmental impact of ESW. Dedicated experiments are needed (i) to more precisely determine the weathering rate under in situ conditions within the seabed and (ii) to evaluate the ecosystem impacts—both positive and negative—from the released weathering products.

Multi‐level Climate Governance: The global system and selected sub‐systems

Multi‐level Climate Governance: The global system and selected sub‐systems