Climate change negotiations : Négociations sur les changements climatiques

The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.4 The report also found that the largest contribution to the uptake of energy by the climate system, which is causing surface warming, is the increase since 1750 of the atmospheric concentration of CO2 as the result of human activity.5 Dr [...] The ultimate objective of the Convention is the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. [...] For almost seven years, the question at the centre of UNFCCC negotiations has been how, or whether, to continue the Kyoto process and increase the effectiveness of the implementation of the Convention. [...] In addition to the AWG-KP, the UNFCCC set up a separate, ad hoc working group to recommend ways to enable “the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action” (AWG-LCA).20 Only parties to the Kyoto Protocol could take part in the AWG-KP, while all parties to the Convention could take part in the AWG-LCA. [...] The term “contribution” was accepted over the term “commitment,” and there was no mention of the nature of the “legal force” of the potential 2015 agreement.