The Chessboard of the Climate negotiations

Since the establishment of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in early 1990s, the international climate policy negotiations have taken place within it.

Each country (party) to the convention is represented at Conference of the Parties (COP) by a national delegation consisting of one or more officials empowered to represent and negotiate on behalf of their government.

Based on the tradition of the UN, parties are organised into five regional groups:

As Parties to the UNFCCC, individual countries act as sovereign states and decision – making is done by consensus. However, climate negotiations have also shown that it is often difficult to reach agreement among countries due to following reasons:

1.??????Socio – economic and environmental diverse sovereign profile: Individual countries are socio – economic and environmentally diverse. Every country has different financial capacity to respond to the respond to the impacts of climate change or to act on mitigation differs as well as degree to which countries feel responsible for climate change.

2.????Realpolitik at the play: Countries may play 'negotiation games' in an attempt to arrive at a more favorable negotiation outcome for them, possibly at the expense of others.

3.?????Lack of historic climate studies and modelling: Climate negotiations have long been hampered by lack of scientific insights on global warming and whether and how people influence climate systems. As a result, rather than negotiations being guided by a clear problem statement and goals, formulating climate goals has long been a topic of negotiations itself.

However, the countries usually don’t act alone at international climate negotiations, they act in blocs. The above mentioned five regional groups are not usually used to present the substantive interests of parties of UNFCCC. Each groups present countries’ specific interests and therefore can be composed of countries from multiple regions. During negotiations, a group of countries will jointly support certain policies, targets or points of view. A country is part of different blocs, so their shifting as well as relatively constant positions can be confusing. Following major blocs at the international climate negotiations:

Umbrella Group

• It is loose coalition of non – EU developed countries which was formed following the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.
• The group include some of the large industrialized, high carbon emitters.
• Although there is no formal list, it is usually made up of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the U.S.
• The group has advocated for ‘universal attainment’ of the goals of Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 (greenhouse gas emission reductions needed to keep global temperature rise within 2?C, preferably within 1.5?C) including developing countries.
• This group also maintains that the stringency of reporting and accounting for emissions should be the same for all countries.
• It also doesn’t believes in ‘Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) (one of the principles formalized in UNFCCC). It holds that responsibility for reducing emissions ought to be determined based on current rather than historical levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

European Union (EU)

• The EU conducts climate negotiations as a group. As a regional economic integration organization, EU itself can be and is party to UNFCCC. However, it doesn’t have a separate vote from its members.
• It also reports its greenhouse gas emissions as a group to UNFCCC, making the EU the world’s 3rd largest emitter, following China and the U.S.
• Through commitments to become climate – neutral by 2050 (so – called net – zero commitment), the EU has been a leader in many ways when it comes to combating climate change.
• But its commitment to provide climate finance to developing countries has been muddled due to lack of transparency and alleged counting of aid money as climate finance.
• The group has maintained that emerging economies should commit to absolute emission reductions.

BASIC Group

• This group was formed as a reaction to increasing pressure on emerging economies of Brazil, South Africa, India & China to control their emissions.
• The group also includes world’s largest emitter (China) & 4th largest emitter (India).
• Some of the major demands of the group are as follows:

1. More financial transfers mostly from countries of Umbrella group and EU.
2. Industrialised nations take the lead in emission reductions as they have placed over 80% of extra greenhouse gas in the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial age.

• The main force binding the group has been collective defence against emission – reduction demands of developed countries and some developing country groups.

LMDC Group

• The Like – Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) Group is a shifting band of more than 20 countries, which has been seen as a stumbling block by many others.
• The main demand of the bloc is to maintain the differentiation between developed and developing countries.
• The bloc asks developed countries to meet the emission reduction commitments, they have made without necessarily spelling out the actions to be taken by developing countries.
• Some of the prominent members of the group are Bolivia, China, India, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam and oil – exporting countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela etc.

Cartagena Dialogue

• This group encompasses members from Umbrella group, LDCs group and AOISIS group.
• The bloc usually takes a refined position of EU and doesn’t have a very strong stance on sticky issues such as climate finance and emission reduction commitments. The?main objective of the bloc over the years has been to propose innovative ideas that sometimes extend the interpretation of UNFCCC.
• This is seen by observers as a softened position compared with that of Umbrella Group.
• However, in recent years, the group has maintained that emerging economies must make higher emission cuts.

Environmental Integrity Group (EIG)

• This group was formed in 2000 and comprises of Georgia, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, South Korea and Switzerland.
• It is strongest bloc when demanding the emission reductions in the developing countries which must be independently verified by international auditors. This has placed the group in opposition to many developing countries more than once.
• The group often takes up positions close to the Umbrella Group.

Group of 77 and China

• This bloc is the largest grouping of the developing countries which includes 135 members.
• It is a fairly amorphous group with lots of differences among its members.
• But it has stuck to a common position on critical issues such as need for climate finance from rich nations.
• Apart from that, various countries and blocs within the group often articulate differences on specific issues, such as the African group, AOSIS group, LDC group, etc.

African Group

• It was established at COP1 (1995, Berlin).
• It consists of developing 54 countries from the continent of Africa and represents their common and unified voice.
• This group aligns itself with G – 77 and China on most issues related to climate change.
• It is active and supportive to all aspects of the climate change negotiating process which includes vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation to climate change and asking for stringent action from developed countries & seeking finances to combat climate change.

ALBA Group

• The group – formally called Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – has 9 member countries such as Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela, etc.
• The bloc is most opposed to the Umbrella Group as it is outspoken on demanding greenhouse gas emission reductions from the developed countries while not pledging anything from developing countries.
• During the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit (COP 15), this group was catalytic in breakdown of a formal agreement in the wake of backdoor negotiations between U.S. and BASIC Group.
• The delegates of the member countries of the bloc, repeatedly pointed out in an open plenary session the weaknesses of behind-the-scenes agreement.

AOSIS Group

• AOSIS stands for Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which is an intergovernmental organisation of low – lying coastal and small island countries.
• It was established in 1990, ahead of Second World Climate Conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is coalition of 40 low lying countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cabo Verde, Cuba, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Mauritius, Singapore, Seychelles, Vanuatu, etc.
• The main purpose of the organisation is to consolidate the voices of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address challenges associated with global warming.
• The bloc takes a strong presence during the climate negotiations, pointing out that the survival of their countries are at stake due to rising sea levels rise due to global warming.
• They were the first to propose a draft text during the Kyoto Protocol negotiations calling for cuts in carbon dioxide emissions of 20% from 1990 levels by 2005.
• The group was instrumental in making the 1.5?C ceiling an aspirational goal in the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015.
• It aligns itself with EU to push for stronger emissions reduction action by all countries and thus found itself opposing the blocs of developing countries and emerging economies such as BASIC Group.

LDCs Group

• The bloc includes 46 countries which are defined as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by the UN.
• Some of the prominent members of the group include Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kiribati, Solomon Islands Somalia, Tanzania, Tuvalu, Vanuatu (graduated), etc.
• This group has been most vocal in seeking capacity building for its people so that they can handle impacts of the climate change impacts.
• It has also been vocal in seeking compensation for loss and damage (L&D) these countries are suffering due to climate change impacts such as floods, storms & droughts.
• The LDCs Group is part of larger G – 77 and China group, but sometimes takes positions contrary to those of emerging economies and oil – exporting countries.

Arab States

• It comprises of 22 countries encompassing over the MENA region. This include countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.
• As the bloc includes major oil exporting countries which are the members of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), NGOs and observers often see this group as blocking progress against climate change.
• With group members such as UAE moving aggressively towards renewable energy, there are possibilities that the group may alter its stance somewhat.

Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025 (ACT2025)

• This relatively new group which includes Bangladesh, Philippines, Nigeria, Kenya, Colombia and several countries in Caribbean and the Pacific.
• Many members of the bloc are vocal in demanding that emerging economies take a larger share of greenhouse gas emission-reduction commitments.