UNFCCC

UNFCCC

UNFCCC is an International environmental treaty proposed at UNCED held in Rio de Janeiro on June 1992 with ultimate object of stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and open for signature on May 9, 1992. UNFCCC has been entered into force on March 21, 1994 and there are 194 parties ratified UNFCCC as of May 2011. The parties agreed to recognize “common but differentiated responsibilities” with concept of the developed/industrialized countries, who are listed in Annex I, shall take much more responsibilities for reducing greenhouse gas. The secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is located in Bonn, Germany.

COP/MOP

Conference of the Parties (COP) is a conference established in accordance with Article 7 “CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES” under United Nation Convention on Climate Change as the supreme body of this Convention to assess in dealing with climate change. COP is organized annually since 1995. There are 42 parties listed in Annex-I parties to convention, 152 parties including 49 latest developing countries (LDC) listed in Non Annex-I parties to convention.

Since the Kyoto Protocol was concluded and established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions at COP3 in 1997 and enter into force on February 2005, the parties ratified the Kyoto Protocol have been in a meeting named “Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol” in conjunction with COP. The parties to the Convention that arenot parties to the Protocol can participate in Protocol related meeting as observer

Year	Venue		Contents
Year	COP No.	Country	Contents
2012	COP18/MOP8	Durban, South Africa	Two countries, Qatar and South Korea, are currently bidding to host the 2012 COP 18
2011	COP17/MOP7	South Africa	The 2011 COP 17 is to be hosted by South Africa from 28 November to 9 December 2011.
2010	COP16/MOP6	Cancun, Mexico	COP 16 is expected to be held in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010
2009	COP15/MOP5	Copenhagen, Denmark	Copenhagen Accord * Ageendas for current commitment period (-2012) - Expand scopes of CDM - Governance - Regional Distribution - Relationship with National Policy (E+/E-) (Outcomes) - Strengthen financial support to less than 10 project country - Simplified methodologies - Set up appeal process - Develop guidance on E+/E- policy
2008	COP14/MOP4	Poznań, Poland	Delegates agreed on principles for the financing of a fund to help the poorest nations cope with the effects of climate change and they approved a mechanism to incorporate forest protection into the efforts of the international community to combat climate change - Governance, Accreditation, Regional Distribution - Discussion on improvement of Koto Mechanisms on next commitment period (after 2013) - Chairperson's guidance (draft idea) includes; * Right and wrong of scope/subject expansion of project * Introduce sectoral credit mechanisms * Credit issuances based on party's emmision reduction activities * Accredit Co-benefit aspects as registration criteria * Emission Trading Scheme based on sectoral target - Invite partiesto submit improvement of draft ideas
2007	COP13/MOP3	Bali, Indonesia	Bali Action Plan - Facilitate initiative of "Futere CDM" - "Bali Roadmap" adopted (agreed on the negotiation schedule for next commitment period) - Assistance to developing countries : Agreed on establish the Adaptation Fund Board (Secretariat : GEF,Trustee :WB) - Change the upper limit of SSC project (6ktCO2->12ktCO2) - Exempt of fees (e.g. regisration fee) for CDM project at LCDs
2006	COP12/MOP2	Nairobi, Kenya	Adopted a five-year plan of work to support climate change adaptation by developing countries, and agreed on the procedures and modalities for the Adaptation Fund. They also agreed to improve the projects for clean development mechanism. - Facilitate initiative of "Future CDM" - Agreed on discussion schedule of CCS guidance (quidance will adopt at CMP4) - Improvements of regional distribution of CDM projects - "Nairobi Framework" adopted (Assist to LDCs by relevant UN organs) - 3 months extension for application of Retroactive credit (the end of Dec.2006-March 2007 - Request EB to arrange the sort of guidance of PoA (Guidance and PDD format)
2005	COP11/MOP	Montreal, Canada	The first Meeting of the Parties (MOP-1) to the Kyoto Protocol - Facilitate initiative of "Futere CDM" (Promote EE/RE project) - Review of definition of SSC project (Expand the applicability condition) - Agreed on guiding principle of CCS (CCS is feasible as CDM) project (detail procedures are under discussion) - Adopt the eligibility quidance of Programmatic CDM (Policy or standard cannot be considered as a CDM project) - Enhancement of EB and Secrtariat
2003	COP9	Milan, Italy	The parties agreed to use the Adaptation Fund established at COP7 in 2001 primarily in supporting developing countries better adapt to climate change. The fund would also be used for capacity-building through technology transfer. At COP9, the parties also agreed to review the first national reports submitted by 110 non-Annex I countries.
2002	COP8	New Delhi, India	Aadopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration that, amongst others, called for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimize the impact of climate change on developing countries.
2001	COP7	Marrakech, Morocco	Wrapped up the work on the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, finalizing most of the operational details and setting the stage for nations to ratify the Kyoto Protocol
2001	COP6	Bonn, Germany
2000	COP6	The Hague, Netherlands
1999	COP5	Bonn, Germany	Primarily a technical meeting, and did not reach major conclusions.
1997	COP3	Kyoto,Japan	The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change
1996	COP2	Geneva, Switzerland	In this conference accepted the scientific findings on climate change proffered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its second assessment (1995)
1995	COP1	Berlin, Germany	The Berlin Mandate: COP1 established two permanent subsidiary bodies: the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).

Subsidiary Bodies
Subsidiary Body under United Nation Convention on Climate Change was established in accordance with UNFCCC Article 7 (i) Establish such subsidiary bodies and provide guidance to them and Article 9 “Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and Article 10 “Subsidiary Body for Implementation”.

Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice
This Subsidiary Body was established to provide timely information with the Conference of the Parties and its other subsidiary and advice on scientific and technological matters relating to the Convention.

Subsidiary Body for Implementation
This Subsidiary Body was established to assist the Conference of the Parties in the assessment and review of the effective implementation of the Convention.

Add Hock Working Groups
1st session of Add Hock Working Group was held in conjunction with 24th session of Subsidiary Bodies in Bonn, Germany during May 18-26, 2006. Sessions of Add Hock Working Group are developed from the round discussion in the form of “Dialogue on long-term cooperative action to address climate change by enhancing implementation of the Convention. There are two Add Hock Working Group, i.e. Add Hock Working Group on long-term cooperative actions under the Convention and Add Hock Work Group on further commitment for Annex-I parties under Kyoto Protocol

CDM Executive Board (EB) and Organization under CDM EB
Please refer to Governance in CDM

Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (JISC)
Joint Implementation was initially defined in Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol. However there were no details described in the Kyoto Protocol other than debating “The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol may, at its first session or as soon as practicable thereafter, further elaborate guidelines for the implementation of this Article, including for verification and reporting.” in Clause 2. The Parties to the Kyoto Protocol decided to establish Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee at COP/MOP1 in 2005. [Guideline for the implementation Article 6]

For the further information

The United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change

UNFCCC Official Website http://unfccc.int