The eighteenth annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held each year in Doha, Qatar, concluded on December 8 without making any measurable progress in its effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. The climate conference did succeed in extending the Kyoto Protocol that was due to expire at the end of 2012 to 2020. It was also agreed to extend the development of a new protocal until next year.
Doha Climate Conference Goals
The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol has been the primary focus of the 190 participating countries that participate in the annual climate conference. Acknowledging the effects that globalization has had on the increase of harmful carbon dioxide emissions into the environment, countries that ratify the Protocol agree to accept maximum greenhouse gas emission levels.
Action on New Protocol Postponed
Objections to the Kyoto Protocol, which the United States has not yet joined, include its exclusion of developing countries like China, which currently emits the most greenhouse gases in the world. Recognizing that globalization makes climate change a worldwide concern, the UNFCCC agreed last year to draft a new agreement that would demand action from all countries. This year’s forum made no progress towards developing the new protocol.
Loss and Damage
Documents presented by the UNFCCC included language on the concept of loss and damage for the first time. This concept is meant to address the effects of both the increasing number of extreme weather events as well as extended events like rising sea levels by providing funding and technical support for vulnerable countries. The concept was adopted in principle only.
Worldwide, carbon dioxide emissions increased in 2010 and 2011. Although emissions are decreasing in developed countries like the United States, emissions in developing countries like India and China have offset those reductions. The UNFCCC admitted that they would be unlikely to meet their goal of preventing global temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
