The Convention
What is the Convention?
Status of Ratification
Status of Ratification of the Convention
Declarations by Parties
History of the Convention
Second Review of the Adequacy of Article 4.2 (A) and (B) of the Convention
Proposals to Amend the Lists in Annexes I and II of the Convention
Proposal to amend Annexes I and II to remove the name of Turkey and to amend Annex I to add the name of Kazakhstan
Proposals to Amend the Lists in Annexes I and II of the Convention – Key documents
Proposals to Amend the Lists in Annexes I and II of the Convention – Key decisions
Convention documents
Glossary of climate change acronyms and terms
The Kyoto Protocol
The Paris Agreement
Bodies
Parties & Non-Party Stakeholders
Conferences
Transparency and Reporting
Election and Membership
The original authentic Convention text in all six official United Nations languages.
Arabic
Spanish
The consolidated versions of the Convention text, including amendments to Annex I and II, in all six official United Nations languages, have been prepared by the secretariat, and can be found hereunder.
Arabic
Spanish
Status of Ratification
Find out which countries are Parties to the UNFCCC here.
Rio 2012
2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit. In the birthplace of the three Rio Conventions, the Rio 2012 summit took place on 4 to 6 June 2012. It focused on two themes: a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development.
Read more about it, and about the follow-up, at the Rio 2012 website.
The UNFCCC entered into force on 21 March 1994. Today, it has near-universal membership. The 198 countries that have ratified the Convention are called Parties to the Convention. Preventing “dangerous” human interference with the climate system is the ultimate aim of the UNFCCC.
The Convention:
This was remarkable for its time. Remember, in 1994, when the UNFCCC took effect, there was less scientific evidence than there is now. The UNFCCC borrowed a very important line from one of the most successful multilateral environmental treaties in history (the Montreal Protocol, in 1987): it bound member states to act in the interests of human safety even in the face of scientific uncertainty.
Related reading: Science
The ultimate objective of the Convention is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system.” It states that “such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.”
How do we know what is “dangerous anthropogenic interference”? See IPCC’s Reports
The idea is that, as they are the source of most past and current greenhouse gas emissions, industrialized countries are expected to do the most to cut emissions on home ground. They are called Annex I countries and belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). They include 12 countries with “economies in transition” from Central and Eastern Europe. Annex I countries were expected by the year 2000 to reduce emissions to 1990 levels. Many of them have taken strong action to do so, and some have already succeeded.
What compelled these countries to act? See The Kyoto Protocol
Industrialized nations agree under the Convention to support climate change activities in developing countries by providing financial support for action on climate change– above and beyond any financial assistance they already provide to these countries. A system of grants and loans has been set up through the Convention and is managed by the Global Environment Facility. Industrialized countries also agree to share technology with less-advanced nations.
Related reading: Climate Finance, Climate Technology, Capacity-Building
Find out more about the reporting process here.:What is transparency and reporting
Economic development is particularly vital to the world’s poorer countries. Such progress is difficult to achieve even without the complications added by climate change. The Convention takes this into consideration by accepting that the share of greenhouse gas emissions produced by developing nations will grow in the coming years. Nonetheless, in the interests of fulfilling its ultimate goal, it seeks to help such countries limit emissions in ways that will not hinder their economic progress. One such win-win solution was to emerge later, when the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention was conceived.
Related reading: the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol
The Convention acknowledges the vulnerability of all countries to the effects of climate change and calls for special efforts to ease the consequences, especially in developing countries which lack the resources to do so on their own. In the early years of the Convention, adaptation received less attention than mitigation, as Parties wanted more certainty on impacts of and vulnerability to climate change. When IPCC’s Third Assessment Report was released, adaptation gained traction, and Parties agreed on a process to address adverse effects and to establish funding arrangements for adaptation. Currently, work on adaptation takes place under different Convention bodies. The Adaptation Committee, which Parties agreed to set up under the Cancun Adaptation Framework as part of the Cancun Agreements, is a major step towards a cohesive, Convention-based approach to adaptation.
Related reading: Adaptation
The UNFCCC is a “Rio Convention”, one of two opened for signature at the “Rio Earth Summit” in 1992. Its sister Rio Conventions are the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification. The three are intrinsically linked. It is in this context that the Joint Liaison Group was set up to boost cooperation among the three Conventions, with the ultimate aim of developing synergies in their activities on issues of mutual concern.