From the Rio Earth Summit to the COP26 in Glasgow, a look back at 29 years of climate negotiations

Earth Summit kick off in Rio, Brazil, June 3, 1992. The Asahi Shimbun / Getty Images

Text by: Arnaud Jouve Follow

14 mins

Since we know we have a global warming problem, the world is trying to develop a planetary response.

To do this, all the signatory countries of the United Nations Climate Convention (UNFCCC) meet every year at the conference of the parties, the COP.

An international negotiation of extraordinary complexity to bring all the nations to develop a common strategy.

Back on the history of the COP at a time when Glasgow is hosting the COP26. 

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"

 ," warns Laurence Tubiana, the architect of the Paris Agreement and Director General of the European Climate Foundation.

However, the environmental concern goes back much further than the COP21 in Paris in 2015. It was in 1972 in Stockholm, a first United Nations conference adopted principles for the ecological management of our environment and placed its concerns at the international level. The resulting Stockholm declaration initiates a dialogue between developing countries and industrialized countries on the notion of the universality of these ecological questions when we speak, for example, of air, water or oceans. At the end of this first summit, 

around a new concept: sustainable development. 

But twenty years later, the finding is even more alarming.

Scientific communications are multiplying, documenting the deterioration of the environment and confirming that our models of economic development threaten many natural balances.

To respond, the United Nations are taking advantage of their ten-year gathering to bring together all the countries of the world in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: this will be the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, nicknamed

, Which will be seen by many as the real starting point for international action on environmental issues.

The climate concern

During this period, research multiplied in many fields and those who worked on the climate would make surprising discoveries. The little story goes that during an expedition to Antarctica in the 1960s, the French researcher 

, observing bubbles that release from an ice cube that he dipped into his whiskey, realizes that these air bubbles contain information about when they were trapped by the ice. Then comes the idea of ​​going to look for old air bubbles and analyze them to get information about the past. Teams from several countries are interested in these traces in the ice and drilling is carried out in the pack ice to take deeper and deeper ice cores in which there are trapped air bubbles that can testify to the air. and the climate at different times. These analyzes on deep wells in Antarctica will make it possible to obtain information over several tens of thousands of years and to establish for the first time a true history of the climate.The analysis of these climatic data will reveal, beyond the usual variations, an increasing increase in temperature from the beginning of the industrial era.

In addition, scientists observe an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and in 1979, a report by Jules Charney indicates that a doubling of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) would lead to a rise in temperatures of between 1.5 and 4.5 ° C. Many studies will confirm global warming. The climatologist Hervé le Treut in

 remembers: “ 

 "  

Greenhouse gas emissions are the main cause of climate change in the world (illustrative image).

© Fabrice Coffrini / AFP

To be able to synthesize all scientific knowledge on climate, in order to help decision-makers find solutions, under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was created in 1988,

.

The IPCC will produce a first report in 1990 which will confirm the seriousness of the phenomenon and we are today at the 6th report which continues to confirm the worsening of these data if we do not act.

A Summit for the Earth

On the occasion of the Earth Summit in 1992, the United Nations will make global warming one of its priority concerns, but there are also many problems in many areas. To better protect the planet, the Earth Summit will pass a declaration that advances the concept of countries' rights and responsibilities in the field of the environment by setting out fundamental principles for sustainable development on Earth. The Rio declaration which is adopted is not just a simple reaffirmation of the Stockholm declaration to underline the need to protect the planet: it will also be a compromise between industrialized countries and developing countries. Because the developing countries will demand that their own concerns be taken into account more widely and above all thatit is recognized that the industrialized countries are primarily responsible for the current ecological problems. Developing countries stress their sovereign right to development and they demand new non-polluting resources and techniques like those used in developed countries. 

Even though the Rio Declaration is not legally binding, like the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, it is hoped that governments will feel morally obligated to adhere to its principles.

However, the Summit gave birth to three conventions: the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC).

The climate convention

The 

 (UNFCCC)

, which calls on countries to act according to their responsibilities and capacities to stabilize the concentration of GHGs in the The atmosphere was adopted at the Rio Summit in 1992 by 154 states, but it was not until 2004 that it was ratified by 189 countries. To do this, all the signatory countries of the UNFCCC, which we call in UN parlance “

 ”, meet every year in a so-called “

 ”

conference 

, a COP, to verify the correct application. of the objectives of the convention.

 “

” which is one of the slogans of COP26, has always been the main concern of the Convention. Because the isolated response of a country cannot suffice to resolve the problem which is global: we need an international strategy with the contribution of all. But this is where it gets complicated. Everyone must agree on the actions, on the specific role of each and that each do their part. However, to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions we need to change our development models, for example to get out of fossil fuels, rethink the world differently and bring all countries to this change. 

At the time of the Earth Summit in Rio, many believed that the climate issue was going to be resolved relatively quickly and that this mainly required a technical response. History will show that it is going to be much more complicated than expected. The political, economic and other stakes are not the same for everyone and the complexity of international relations will come into the negotiations. Because even if all the countries of the world are affected by the consequences of global warming, not all are involved in the same way and must face different problems. We see it for example with the industrial powers historically responsible for GHG emissions such as Europe and the United States, or China, the current leading emitter of GHGs,which considers itself to be an emerging power which does not accept, for the moment, to be restricted in its development; or even particularly vulnerable developing countries, which have not contributed to high GHG emissions, but which will be particularly affected by the effects of global warming. 

Protest to save the climate in 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya.

(Photo: AFP)

The first COPs

The first COP, which took place in 1995 in Germany in the presence of the 196 signatory countries of the Convention, set quantified targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The idea being that it was necessary to determine what each country emitted as GHG in order to define the emission reduction efforts of each.

But in order to have a significant effect, to slow down the progression of warming, failing immediately to be able to put an end to the warming, it is necessary to arrive at a certain global volume of GHG reduction. Unfortunately, we quickly realize that the account is not there, the efforts made by some countries are insufficient. The United States, which at the time were the largest emitters of GHGs, declared for example " 

 " and that they will not constrain themselves as requested.

Faced with this observation, in 1997, during the COP3 held in Kyoto, Japan, other industrialized countries, historically responsible for this climate degradation, offered to set an example to encourage other countries in the world to follow them. . This approach, which will be refined during COP4 in Buenos Aires in 1998, COP5 in Bonn in 1999 and COP6 in The Hague in 2000, gave rise to

which will enter into force only in February 2005 with the long-awaited signature by Russia.

Some believe that the Beslan tragedy (a hostage-taking in a school that will kill 334 including 186 children after the intervention of the Russian army) and the need for Russia to improve its image following this tragedy, contributed to Russian engagement.

The object of this protocol is then to reduce GHG emissions by at least 5% compared to the 1990 level between 2008 and 2012. The ambition is far below what is needed at the planetary level, but it must demonstrate that this is possible to get all countries to join the process.

The failure of Copenhagen 

The COPs will follow each other year after year to overcome differences and refine the strategy, in order to obtain a global agreement in 2009 at the COP15 in Copenhagen.

An agreement which can finally make it possible to fight against global warming and which also takes into account the problems of adaptation and financing that this implies mainly for developing countries. 

The whole world is meeting in Copenhagen.

All the main heads of state and government made the trip.

COP15, dubbed “the faint hope conference”, must be the culmination of many years of negotiations.

We are in 2009 and it is urgent to act, the time of men is not that of nature and during this time the planet is warming more and more.

Unfortunately, the

does not lead to any commitment from the States.

In the last hours, to save the conference, some countries will scribble a facade agreement that will not be enough.

Poor preparation, international tensions and differences, such as between the Americans and the Chinese and many other factors, will turn this highly anticipated COP into a fantastic failure, wiping out years of development and leaving the world without a response strategy. . 

Saving the climate REUTERS - Alessandro Bianchi

The Paris Agreement

A few years of wandering will follow where the COP will try to save what they can to overcome the disaster in Copenhagen.

In 2011, the COP17 in Durban tried to resume negotiations to find an agreement, redefined an agenda of commitments for the Kyoto protocol going beyond 2012, and created "the working group on the Durban platform for action. strengthened ”to prepare for the 2015 COP21 in Paris, which should relaunch the process on other bases.

►To listen to: C'est pas du vent - The Paris climate agreement celebrates its 5th anniversary: ​​what is the outcome?

To find an international climate agreement that will contain global warming below + 2 ° Celsius by the end of the 21st century, France will offer another approach to the 196 signatory countries of the convention on the occasion of the COP21 in Paris.

It will be

.

The idea being that it is up to the countries to announce the efforts they are ready to make (NDC) while agreeing to review their commitments at certain deadlines to collectively reach the set thresholds, the agreement also providing for ambitious objectives. in adaptation and finance for those who will be impacted by climate change.  

From the Paris Agreement to COP26

The Paris Agreement is a success: its strategy is accepted and raises real hope among those who despaired of not seeing a global agreement after Copenhagen. It is still necessary to define the rules and obtain sufficient national commitments to achieve the climate objectives set by the Paris Agreement. This is what the following COPs will tackle, because the sum of the commitments is still insufficient and still places us in a perspective of much too high warming. Added to this is a difficult international context. 

The COP 25, chaired by the Chilean government, but which will take place in Madrid in 2019, was an illustration of this. The Madrid COP aimed to raise the ambition levels of the Paris Agreement and proposed to find an agreement on international carbon market rules, the last part of the Paris Agreement. But the COP25 will ultimately be a failure and will end with a minimum agreement, in an international context disrupted by certain countries such as Australia, Brazil, the United States and India who have tried to prevent any progress in the climate negotiations. 

Today, the COP26 which is currently being held in Glasgow in the United Kingdom, from November 1 to 12, 2021

under the British presidency and in partnership with Italy, must take up the challenge to bring everyone back in the objectives of the 'Paris Agreement.

It is to date the only existing strategy to fight against global warming and the result of one of the most complex international negotiations initiated 29 years ago now.

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