'Cloud' over climate negotiations: From Bangkok to Copenhagen and beyond

Economic and Political Weekly

Volumn 44, Issue 43, 2009, Pages 11-15

  Rajamani, Lavanya ^a  

^a CENTRE FOR POLICY RESEARCH   (India)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84995933293     PISSN: 00129976     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Note

References (43)

1. Decision 1/CP 13, Bali Action Plan, in Report of the Conference of the Parties on its 13th session, held in Bali from 3 to 15 December 2007, Addendum, Part Two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its 13th session, FCCC/CP/2007/6/Add.1 (14 March 2008).
2. UNFCCC Article 17 requires that the "text of any proposed protocol shall be communicated to the Parties by the Secretariat at least six months before such a session".
3. Draft protocol to the convention prepared by the government of Japan for adoption at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties, FCCC/CP/2009/3, 13 May 2009, available at, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/03.pdf
4. Draft protocol to the convention prepared by the government of Australia for adoption at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties, FCCC/CP/2009/5, 6 June 2009, available at, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/05.pdf
5. Draft protocol to the convention presented by the government of Tuvalu under Article 17 of the Convention, FCCC/CP/2009/4, 5 June 2009, available at, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/04.pdf
6. Draft protocol to the convention prepared by the government of Costa Rica for adoption at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties, FCCC/CP/2009/6, 8 June 2009, available at, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/06.pdf
7. Draft implementing agreement under the convention prepared by the government of the United States of America for adoption at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties, FCCC/CP/2009/7, 6 June 2009, available at, http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/07.pdf
8. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 29 May 1992, A/AC.237/18 (Part II)/Add.1, reprinted in (1992) 31 ILM 849 (hereinafter UNFCCC).
9. Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 10 December 1997, FCCC/CP/1997/L.7/Add.1, reprinted in (1998) 37 ILM 22 (hereinafter Kyoto Protocol).
10. Consideration of Commitments for Subsequent Periods for Parties Included in Annex I to the Convention under Article 3, Paragraph 9 of the Kyoto Protocol, Decision 1/CMP.1, FCCC/KP/CMP/ 2005/8/Add.1 (2006).
11. Statements by Sweden, on behalf of the European Community and its member states, AWG-LCA 7 and AWG-KP 9, Bangkok Climate Change Talks, 28 September to 9 October 2009.
12. Byrd Hagel Resolution, S Res 98, 25 July 1997.
13. Statement on behalf of the G-77/China, by Ambassador Ibrahim, Republic of Sudan, Closing Plenary of the Ninth Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group under the Kyoto Protocol, Bangkok, Thailand, 9 October 2009.
14. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 23 May 1969, reprinted in 8 ILM 679 (1969).
15. Penny Wong, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water, Speech to the New York University School of Law, "Australia's role in developing the legal framework of the post-2012 agreement", New York University, 21 September 2009.
16. Submission by South Africa, in ideas and proposals on the elements contained in paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan, Submissions from Parties, FCCC/AWGLCA/2009/MISC.4 (Part II) at 95. This proposal, and others in a similar vein, are captured in Non-Paper 20, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions by Developing Country Parties, Draft Consolidated Text, paragraphs 44-54, available at, http://unfccc.int/meetings/ad-hoc-working-groups/lca/items/5012.php
17. Enabling the full, effective and sustained implementation of the convention through long-term cooperative action now, up to and beyond 2012, Draft Conclusions Proposed by the Chair, in FCCC/AWGLCA/2008/L.7 (27 August 2008).
18. Non-Paper 28, Non-Paper by the Chair, Revised Paragraphs 1-37 of Annex III to Document FCCC/AWGLCA/INF.2, 9 October 2009, available at, http://unfccc.int/meetings/ad-hoc-working-groups/lca/items/5012.php [Hereinafter Non-Paper 28].
19. Needless to say, both the Bali Action Plan and the UNFCCC are subject to diverse interpretations.
20. Paragraph 3, Annex I to Non-Paper 28. This contravenes UNFCCC Article 12(5) read with Article 4(3), which contains a differentiated reporting timetable for Annex I and non-Annex I Parties, and links reporting by non-Annex I countries to the provision of the agreed full costs of preparing such reports.
21. Paragraph 6, Annex I to Non-Paper 28.
22. Paragraph 5(a), Annex I to Non-Paper 28; It is worth noting that in its proposed implementing agreement, the US requires developing countries mitigation actions to be consistent with the levels of ambition needed to contribute to meeting the objective of the Convention, but for developed countries it prescribes "emissions reductions/removals in the 2020/[ ] time frame, in conformity with domestic law."
23. Paragraph 34, Non-paper 28.
24. Lavanya Rajamani, Differentiation in the Post-2012 Climate Regime, 4(4) Policy Quarterly 48 (2008).
25. Parties do not have the mandate either under the Bali Action Plan that established the AWG-LCA or under Decision 1/CMP 1 that established the AWG-KP to engage in such an exercise.
26. Paragraph 7, Annex I to Non-paper 28.
27. Paragraph 7(b), Annex I to Non-paper 28.
28. Paragraphs 9-15, Annex I to Non-paper 28.
29. Paragraph 7(b), Annex I to Non-paper 28.
30. Procedures and Mechanisms Relating to Compliance under the Kyoto Protocol, in Report of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol on its first session, held at Montreal from 28 November to 10 December 2005, Addendum, Part Two: Action taken, FCCC/KP/CMP/2005/8/Add.3 (30 March 2006), 92, at 102.
31. Article 18, Kyoto Protocol, 1997.
32. Proposal from Saudi Arabia to amend the Kyoto Protocol, FCCC/KP/CMP/2005/2 (26 May 2005).
33. J Brunnée COPing with Consent: Law-Making under Multilateral Environmental Agreements, 15 Leiden Journal of International Law 1-52 (2002), at 29.
34. Court File Number T 1683-07, Federal Court, Between Friends of the Earth and The Minister of the Environment, Memorandum of Fact and Law, at 5 (paragraph 9).
35. Remarks by the US President At United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's Climate Change Summit, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 22 September 2009.
36. Compilation of information relating to possible quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives as submitted by Parties, Informal Note by the Secretariat, 29 September 2009.
37. Kelly Levin and Rob Bradley, "Comparability of Annex I Emission Reduction Pledges", World Resources Institute Working Paper, September 2009.
38. Alliance of Small Island States, Aggregate Annex I reductions for 2020, 28 September 2009 (on file with the author).
39. Terry Barker et al, Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Box 13.7 at 776.
40. Proposal from Algeria, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, China, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, FCCC/KP/CMP/2009/7, 15 June 2009.
41. Submission by Alliance of Small Island States et al, in Submissions by Parties, Views on possible elements for amendments to the Kyoto Protocol pursuant to its Article 3, paragraph 9, FCCC/KP/AWG/2009/MISC.7, 7 April 2009.
42. Harald Winkler et al, Who Picks Up the Remainder? Mitigation in Developed and Developing Countries, 9 Climate Policy (2009) (forthcoming) (noting that implicit in the IPCC numbers is a formula that non-Annex I countries would pick up the difference between a global emissions pathway that avoids the worst impacts and the quantified ranges for Annex I; and arguing for higher ranges for developed countries and increased funding).
43. Other developed countries would not, for instance, wish to undertake legally binding commitments under the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period if the US were subject to non-legally binding aspirational commitments in a COP decision under the UNFCCC.