The limits of climate change agreements: from past to present

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-03-2013-0026
• Pages: 376-390
• Date: 11 November 2014
• Published date: 11 November 2014
• Author: Chandra Lal Pandey
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Environmental issues,Climate change

The limits of climate change

agreements: from past to present

Chandra Lal Pandey

Political Science and Public Policy Program, University of Waikato,

Hamilton, New Zealand

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to show why very little progress was made in arresting climate change.

Managing climate change is one of the greatest challenges humanity has encountered in the 21st

century. Responding to this greatest challenge, the United Nations has organized numerous climate

change conferences. Four agreements (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

[UNFCCC], Kyoto, Copenhagen and Doha) have emerged in the process of developing a potential

international climate change policy but failed to produce any ambitious agreement to arrest climate

change.

Design/methodology/approach – The pledges made by Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to reduce

the greenhouse gases (GHGs) are contextualized with the ever increasing emissions of GHGs by

exploring the databases of UNFCCC, International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Information

Administration (EIA) and the Netherlands Energy Assessment Agency (NEAA) for this study.

Findings – However, GHGs have continued to rise and no globally binding agreement is seen to be

forthcoming. Quantied targets to address the problem have yet to be agreed while major emitters

remain free riders. This paper argues that the state-centric negotiating framework and the principles of

the climate change negotiations were the main reasons for the inadequate outcomes leading to the

continuing rise in emissions.

Originality/value – This is an original research. It has presented the overview of climate change

agreements, nds the problems and presents a way forward. The research is useful for governments of

the world, climate negotiators, students of climate change, researchers, NGO communities and every

single human being who understands that managing climate change is not only complex but also

extensive.

Keywords Framework, Emissions, Climate change, Principles, Kyoto Protocol,

Climate change agreements

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

International climate change negotiations have been on-going since the 1992 Earth

Summit in Rio de Janeiro, yet global greenhouse gases (GHGs) have increased by

one-third since the adoption of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. The Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding treaty adopted in 1997

and effective since 2005 included quantied emissions targets for industrialized

countries. The Bali Roadmap in 2007 promoted an ambitious climate agreement at the

15th meeting of the Conferences of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen, to follow the

Kyoto Protocol, but without success. Consultations between the USA (USA), Brazil,

The author would like to thank Dr. Alan Simpsom for his insightful comments and suggestions

throughout the preparation of this article.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1756-8692.htm

IJCCSM

6,4

376

International Journal of Climate

Change Strategies and Management

Vol. 6 No. 4, 2014

pp. 376-390

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited

1756-8692

DOI 10.1108/IJCCSM-03-2013-0026