United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

• History:

The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty addressing climate change, negotiated by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janiero in 1992. Adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, most members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) plus the states of Central and Eastern Europe - known collectively as Annex I countries - are committed to adopting policies and measures aimed at returning their greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. All Parties develop and submit "national communications" containing inventories of greenhouse gas emissions by source and greenhouse gas removals by sinks.

• Objectives:

The UNFCCC seeks for the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic human-induced interferences with the earth’s climate system. It participates in the definition of guidelines for states to submit annual national greenhouse gas emissions inventories and displays collected data through an open data portal.

• Parties:

The Convention divides countries into three main groups according to differing commitments. Here is the description of these categories (source).

-Annex I Parties include the Industrialized  countries that were members of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 1992, plus countries with economies in transition (the EIT parties), including the Russian Federation, the Baltic States, and several Central and Eastern European States.

-Annex II Parties consist of the OECD members of Annex I, but not the EIT Parties. They are required to provide financial resources to enable developing countries to undertake emissions reduction activities under the Convention and to help them adapt to adverse effects of climate change.

- Non-Annex I Parties are mostly developing countries. Certain groups of developing countries are recognized by the Convention as being especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, including countries with low-lying coastal areas and those prone to desertification and drought. Others (such as countries that rely heavily on income from fossil fuel production and commerce) feel more vulnerable to the potential economic impacts of climate change response measures.