International Climate Negotiations

Toward a Strong and Just International Climate Agreement

Climate change is a global crisis that must be solved with international collaboration. Friends of the Earth is at the forefront of the push to persuade countries around the world to unite in support of a strong, fair, and aggressive response to this crisis.

Policy experts and campaigners from Friends of the Earth U.S. engage in international climate negotiations as part of the 76-country Friends of the Earth International federation. Friends of the Earth International is an accredited observer organization within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, under which climate negotiations take place.

To achieve an equitable and just international climate agreement, the United States and the other industrialized countries that are responsible for most of the climate pollution in the atmosphere will need to agree to:

• Dramatically reduce carbon emissions domestically without offset loopholes;
• Assist those most affected by global climate change in dealing with its impacts;
• Provide financial assistance to other countries to support their shift to clean energy; and
• Contribute to efforts to protect the world’s forests to save the climate

As the U.S. heads to Durban, South Africa, for the next UNFCCC climate summit, tell the U.S. government to Stand with Africa!

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The UNFCCC became effective in 1994, and has been ratified by 192 countries, including the United States. More than 180 countries have also ratified the Kyoto Protocol (named after Kyoto, Japan, where the protocol was adopted). Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Union committed to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012, known as the first commitment period. By the end of this period, a new international framework for addressing climate change must be negotiated and ratified.

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

One of the most basic tenets of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is "that the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions…" This principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities is based on the historical responsibility of industrialized countries for the climate crisis and the right of developing countries to a sustainable development path. Developing countries that will be hit hardest by climate change are among the least responsible for the impacts they will face and the least capable financially of addressing those impacts, which include drought, water scarcity, severe weather events, and threats to agricultural production and food security. Global warming impacts are already driving migration and conflict over resources.  As a result, climate change will be one of the central drivers of global poverty in the 21st century. 

Industrialized countries like the United States, one of the world's largest historical polluters, must not only drastically reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions so as to keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius. They are also legally obligated as parties to the UNFCCC to provide new and additional financing to developing countries for mitigation, adaptation, and environmentally-sound technology transfer. An equitable global agreement on climate must set up a framework for developing countries to leapfrog dirty energy sources and move directly towards clean energy economies that allow for economic growth and increased energy access. An international climate deal will need to support countries and communities in reducing deforestation and forest degradation. The global deal must also assist countries and communities most affected by global climate change adapt to its impacts.