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Climate Change Corner
International Responses to Climate Change
Climate change as a global challenge demands international collective action. It has the common
features of many other environmental issues that require management of common resources at international
level. While many countries and region like EU, China and California are taking action to reduce greenhouse
gas emission, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol provide a
basis for international co-operation.
UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty signed by over 180 United Nations country
members in 1992. It aims to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations “at a level that would prevent dangerous
anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system”.(1) It places the initial onus on the
industrialized nations and 12 economies in transition to reduce their emissions and finance developing countries
to search for emission reduction strategies without compromising economic progression. It also requires all
industrialized member countries to report precise and regularly updated inventories of their greenhouse gas
emissions.
In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted under the UNFCCC to require industrialized economies
(Annex I Parties) to reduce their combined greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5% below their 1990 levels by
a target date between 2008 to 2012. Currently, over 160 countries excluding United States have ratified the
agreement.
The UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol were extended by the Central Peoples’ Government to Hong Kong
with effect on 5 May 2003. As with other Non-Annex I developing countries which have ratified the Kyoto
Protocol, China (including Hong Kong), is not required to achieve any greenhouse gas emission limits. Instead,
it is required to submit national communications in accordance with the specific requirements of the Protocol by
around 2010.(2)
In addition to the above international treaties, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
was set up jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization
in 1998. It takes up the role of assessing the state of knowledge on the various aspects of climate change
including science, environmental and socio-economic impacts and response strategies. IPCC just published its
Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change in November 2007. In view of its significant contribution on
tackling climate change, IPCC together with Al Gore (Past Vice President of USA) are jointly awarded the
Nobel Prize recently.
Different approaches should be adopted by various countries to fight against climate change. However,
The Stern Review remarks that it is essential to create a shared international vision of long-term goals and to
build the international frameworks that will help each country to play its part in meeting these common goals.
It advocates that the future international frameworks should consist of several key elements including emission
trading, technology co-operation, action to reduce deforestation and adaptation.(3)
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Sources:
(1) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2007
(2) Panel on Environmental Affairs, Legislative Council, Hong Kong SAR Government, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and their Effects
on Global Warming, 28 May 2007.
(3) N. Stern. The Economics of Climate Change - The Stern Review. Cambridge University Press. 2006.
Next Issue: Social and Individual Actions against Climate Change
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Climate Change Corner is contributed by the Environmental Division Committee with the co-ordination of Ir
C.F. LAM who can be contacted at [email protected].
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