Climate diplomacy

Responding to climate change requires replacing — or at least significantly modifying — the systems for generating energy for the world’s economy. Every country has a stake, as well as its own perspective, on ways to undertake this gargantuan task without unduly burdening its own people.

The interests of net-energy-producing countries — the sources of fossil fuels and, to a much lesser degree, nuclear fuel — differ from those of net-energy-consuming countries. But all countries, producers and consumers alike, are confronting substantial infrastructure dislocations.

Further, developed nations see it as critical for developing nations to protect their existing natural environments, while developing nations expect compensation from developed nations, which have spent almost two centuries burning fossil fuels to build their advanced economies.

Spurring negotiations is the increasingly obvious impact of global warming. What was a theory first offered in the 1890s has inexorably grown into scientific near-certainty. 

In 2015, 196 parties met in Paris and agreed to work together to limit the impact of human-caused climate change by limiting temperature increases to 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The agreement went into effect on Nov. 4, 2016. The Paris agreement also calls for long-term adaptation and efforts toward making sure funds go for low greenhouse gas emissions energy and climate-resilient infrastructure. President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement just before the end of his term, but under President Biden the U.S. has rejoined the pact.

The IPCC is a United Nations organization that evaluates the science underlying climate change, potential risks, and possible approaches to adaptation and mitigation.

It was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.

In 2022, 195 nations were members of the IPCC.

The UNFCCC is an agreement among 198 nations to take actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming and climate change. The treaty was signed in June 1992 at the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The U.S. Senate approved the treaty (Treaty Doc. 102-38, Exec. Rpt. 102-55) in October 1992. The treaty is non-binding.