A Review of the COP23 Bonn Conference
Hayley Cassedy
Abstract: The 23rdConference of the Parties, COP23, held on November 6, 2017, created a roadmap for the years leading up to 2020 in order to fulfill the parameters set by the Paris Agreement. Countries, cities, and businesses agreed on twelve specific actions on the financing of climate change prevention methods. Sources of transportation, agriculture, and energy were reassessed to help diminish their adverse effects. In addition to investments, funding, and plans made to combat climate change, companies also pledged to make a positive impact on the environment. Overall, COP23 was a success, as it advanced the Talanoa Dialogue to the next stage of decreasing global temperatures.
The UNFCCC
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, met in Bonn, Germany for the 23rd Conference of the Parties, COP23. The UNFCCC was established in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit (“About COP”). It was created to control the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere (“About COP”). 195 nations are members of the UNFCCC (“About COP”). The UNFCCC has three categorical Parties: Annex I, Annex II, and Non-Annex I (“Parties”).
Annex I consists of countries that have economies in training (EIT) and countries that were industrialized and members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1992 (“Parties”). Annex II includes the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries (“Parties”). They have to financially assist developing countries to alter emissions quantities and adjust to climate change (“Parties”). Annex II Parties are responsible for discovering and implementing “environmentally friendly technologies” in developing countries and EIT members (“Parties”). The Non-Annex I group comprises of developing countries that are geographically or economically impacted by climate change (“Parties”). UNFCCC focuses on finding solutions to combat major effects on Non-Annex I Parties (“Parties”). In addition to these primary groups, the 49 Parties deemed least developing countries receive unique deliberation because of their economic and technological disadvantages (“Parties”).
Significance of COP
A Conference of the Parties is held annually, with the first in 1995 in Berlin, Germany (“About COP”). The Kyoto Protocol was formulated at the 1997 COP, thus compelling developed nations to emit less greenhouse gases (“About COP”). The Kyoto Protocol emphasized that developed countries were largely responsible for exhausting the most greenhouse gases (“The Kyoto”). The commitment period that concluded in 2012 requested the level of emissions be reduced by 5 percent compared to 1990 levels (“The Kyoto”). With the advent of the Kyoto Protocol, the COP gained the second appellation of CMP, which is the Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (“About COP”). The CMP originated in 2005, so COP23 is synonymous with CMP13 (“About COP”). Another piece of international law negotiated by the UNFCCC was the legally binding Paris Agreement during COP21 (“About COP”). The Paris Agreement is intended to unite nations to fight against global temperatures rising more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (“The Paris”). It also focuses on creating solutions for developing countries to be able to mitigate the effects of climate change (“The Paris”). This would require sharing financial and technological developments across the globe (“The Paris”). Countries will be responsible for reporting their progress and improvements that contribute to accomplishing the agreement’s goals every five years (“The Paris”). Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are the highlights of the Paris Agreement (“Nationally”). Every country plans for its “post-2020 climate actions,” and these long-term goals are NDCs (“Nationally”). COP23 addressed how to accomplish NDCs.
COP23’s Intentions
The Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimaram, was the COP23 President. Going into the conference, the Prime Minister planned on reviewing the scientific evidence and facts regarding climate change to gain an understanding of the current situation (“Meet”). Once the present circumstances were established, the Parties would discuss the proper measures to address the rising temperatures (“Meet”). Bainimaram believed the Paris Agreement needed to be revisited and require harsher restrictions put on greenhouse gas emissions (“Meet”). Rather than aiming for no more than a rise of two degrees Celsius, he urged for a restriction of 1.5 degrees Celsius and “net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 at the latest” (“Meet”). He also wished to focus on developing countries that lack resources to combat the effects of global change, especially small islands in the Pacific (“Meet”). Overall, he called for the Parties to act as a community to preserve the planet (“Meet”). Similarly, Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, emphasized the importance of countries’ uniting to articulate guidelines in order to implement the Paris Agreement properly (“Meet”). She explained the Paris Agreement requires a unique formula based on a country’s economic, political, and geographical status, and COP23 would be used to continue these discussions (“Meet”).
