PAST AND CONTEMPORARY PROPOSALS ON DIFFERENTIATION AND EQUITY: SHAPING THE 2015 CLIMATE AGREEMENT

Abstract

Climate change is global phenomenon and the greatest and most debated environmental threat facing humankind today. In view of the expiration of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the UNFCCC at its seventeenth session (COP17) in Durban initiated a new process called the Ad hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) to adopt a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties. As the emphasis on strict lines between developed and developing countries toward the 2015 agreement continues to be contentious, a sober look at past failures, current trajectories and the connections that currently bind them reveal an emerging means of differentiation that departs from the traditional notions of historical responsibility but with a renewed focus on a Party’s inherent circumstances and capabilities. Recognizing this new form of differentiation in view of the 2015 Agreement is therefore the objective of this thesis, especially in helping to identify an equitable outcome that may help Parties more readily accept terms of a legal agreement come 2015. To do this, accounting for the differences in starting points and approaches of Parties is crucial. This is done by studying negotiation processes pertaining to differentiation and equity, namely the Ad hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM), Equitable Access to Sustainable Development (EASD) Workshop and the new ADP. Essential bargains will have to be struck between developed and developing states, and the question of which countries belong where in the climate discourse and framework will necessarily be re-evaluated. Furthermore, since a new distribution of targets/commitments is currently being deliberated, burden-sharing is more relevant than ever.