Topic 1: Equitable Division of Responsibility in Climate Change Negotiations
Topic 2: The Future of China’s Energy and Climate Change Policies
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an obscure but extremely influential treaty created in June of 1992. Most people are familiar with the UNFCC through one of the updates to the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, but few individuals are well-versed with the terms and protocols of the original document. One of the most important provisions of the treaty was the section establishing the eponymous United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a part of the United Nations which regularly meets to update and discuss the environmental and political issues surrounding climate change. The treaties and protocols established by the UNFCC are not legally binding and lack any recourse for enforcement. Nonetheless, the vast majority of developed and developing nations have lent their support to the UNFCC’s work as signatories of the treaty. The UNFCC divides its membership into three different groups – Annex I countries, Annex II countries, and Non-Annex I countries. Roughly speaking, these three subdivisions correspond to industrialized nations, highly developed and economically stable countries, and developing economies. The purpose of these divisions is to determine each nation’s role in addressing the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. Annex I and Annex II nations are committed to reducing their emissions to various benchmarks, while developing nations are not required to reduce emissions without material support from wealthier countries. The UNFCC has attracted some controversy because of the manner in which it assigns responsibility for reducing emissions. Generally speaking, nations are charged with reducing their emissions to pre-1990 levels, which can be extremely cumbersome for some economies (and a major reason why the United States continues to be hesitant to fully support UNFCC goals), while allowing a de facto blank slate of expansion for others. The annual Conferences of the Parties (abbreviated as COPs) serves as the main forum for UNFCC discussions. The 2010 conference was held in Cancun, Mexico, while the 2011 and 2012 COPs are scheduled to take place in South Africa and either Qatar and South Korea, respectively.
At Harvard Model Congress Asia, the UNFCC will operate in a manner similar to the annual Conference of the Parties. As with a number of other committees at HMCA, delegates assigned to the UNFCC will act as a representative of a specific country. An important part of the simulation is contributing to the UNFCC’s discussion from the perspective of their individual nation’s political and economic interests. For instance, a developing nation may be more likely to support a drastic and rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions than a heavily industrialized nation, simply because developing nations are not required to cut emissions unilaterally. Over the course of the weekend, the UNFCC will confront many pressing economic and environmental issues related to climate change. In addition to discussing the topics presented by the committee chair, delegates will interact regularly with other committees by providing testimony and submitting resolutions.
