two - Climate duties, human rights and historical emissions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
Summary
The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) did not produce the hoped-for successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Instead, ‘Decision 2’ of COP15 ‘takes note of the Copenhagen Accord of 18 December 2009’ (UNFCCC, 2009, p 4; emphasis in original). The Copenhagen Accord is an agreement among ‘Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers, and other heads of … delegations’ present at COP15, but it is not a protocol to the UNFCCC (UNFCCC, 2009, p 5). Instead, it is a voluntary agreement that sets no emissions targets for states but rather asks them to submit to the UNFCCC secretariat details of their own planned voluntary emissions reductions or mitigation actions. So, while the signatories recognise that ‘climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time’, they have not signed up to mandatory emissions reductions (UNFCCC, 2009, p 5).
China's submission to the secretariat states that:
China will endeavor to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP [gross domestic product] by 40-45% by 2020 compared to the 2005 level, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15% by 2020 and increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares and forest stock by 1.3 billion cubic meters by 2020 from the 2005 levels. (NDRC, 2010)
These commitments impose no absolute limits on China's greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the Chinese submission emphasises that ‘the above-mentioned autonomous domestic mitigation actions are voluntary in nature and will be implemented in accordance with the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC, in particular Article 4, paragraph 7’ (NDRC, 2010). The voluntary character of the Chinese mitigation actions is important, but the reference to Article 4, paragraph 7 of the UNFCCC may be even more important. This paragraph states that:
The extent to which developing country Parties will effectively implement their commitments under the Convention will depend on the effective implementation by developed country Parties of their commitments under the Convention related to financial resources and transfer of technology and will take fully into account that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties. (UNFCCC, 1992, Article 4, paragraph 7)
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- China's Responsibility for Climate ChangeEthics, Fairness and Environmental Policy, pp. 25 - 46Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011