The Organisations behind the Climate Mitigation Steps#

As the world works together to reduce the adverse effects of climate change, here are some organizations championing the cause.

What is the IPCC?

Established in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations responsible for assessing the research and preparing reports on climate change. The main objective of the IPCC is to assess reports and information related to understanding human-induced climate change, its effects, and, more importantly, how to mitigate these effects.

Currently chaired by the Korean economist Hoesung Lee, the IPCC does not conduct research or partake in monitoring climate change. This body is largely concerned with the periodic review of the resources and methodologies. These resources and methodologies enable countries to estimate their emissions and removals through sinks of greenhouse gases.

Scientists extremely knowledgeable in climate science review these data reports and resources. The scientists that prepare the special reports are divided into working groups: Working Group I, Working Group II, and Working Group III.

  • Working Group I(WGI): The IPCC WGI assesses the physical science supporting past, present, and future climate change. Working Group 1 covers topics like: greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere; temperature changes in the air, land, and ocean; the hydrological cycle and changing precipitation (rain and snow) patterns; extreme weather; glaciers and ice sheets; oceans and sea level; biogeochemistry and the carbon cycle; and climate sensitivity. The WGI assessments provide the global community with the resources to combat climate change.

  • Working Group II (WGII): The IPCC WGII assesses the impact of climate change on the environment. The WGII also assesses the human and natural systems’ capability to adapt our environment to climate change. This assessment exposes vulnerabilities in the systems that countries can improve.

  • Working Group III(WGIII): The IPCC WGII focuses on how to mitigate climate change. It takes a solution-oriented approach but refrains from advocating for any specific climate change mitigation approach.

What is the UNFCCC?

Established in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as UNFCCC, constitutes the foundational climate agreement that has provided the platform for most subsequent international climate agreements. Signed by 154 states, the UNFCCC created an international treaty to mitigate the effects of “dangerous human interference with the climate system” by stabilizing the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

The UNFCC uses the framework agreement to develop treaties. This framework agreement begins with the parties signed to UNFCCC acknowledging a problem and committing to take action without taking concrete obligations.

To help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the UNFCCC implemented the Kyoto Protocol, which acknowledges that global warming is occurring and man-made. The UNFCCC implemented the Kyoto protocol to achieve the UNFCCC’s objective of reducing the effect of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

The Kyoto Protocol applies to seven greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).

The different parties or countries signed to UNFCCC take on varying commitments according to the countries’ capabilities. The parties to the UNFCC are classified as follows: - Annex I: This class has 43 countries or parties. These countries are industrialized countries and “economies in transition”. Check out this post to see the list of countries in this annex.

  • Annex II: This class consists of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) members, minus Turkey. Annex II also consists of the European Union (EU).

  • Least Developed Countries: This class consists of 49 parties. It includes countries that are developing and therefore have limited capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change.

  • Non-Annex I: This class consists of developing countries and countries of low income. These developing countries could volunteer to become parties of Annex I when they have become adequately developed.

The UNFCC collects carbon emissions data from every country to provide an authoritative source of global greenhouse gas emissions. These reports underpin important international treaties like the Paris Agreement. The Paris agreement effectively negotiates between countries that are responsible for cutting emissions and who sequester the most atmospheric carbon. Broadly, we have a goal for the entire world to be carbon neutral by 2050 (this is referred to as ‘’net zero’’ where emissions are perfectly balanced by sequestration), hopefully keeping global warming under a +2C increase in long-term mean temperature. If we fail to achieve this goal, we might end up in a +4C world which is catastrophic.

What does land sector reporting mean?

Land sector reporting can be understood as the estimation and reporting of the anthropogenic sources and sinks of greenhouse gas (GHG) over land units subject to activities relating to land use, land use change, and forestry.

In line with the UNFCC reporting guidelines, the greenhouse gas inventory or report should have the following qualities:

  • Transparency: Transparency ensures that the data sources, assumptions, and methodologies used for an inventory are clearly explained.

  • Consistency: Report should be internally consistent for every single year reported, in all its elements across sectors, categories, and gases.

  • Comparability: Estimates of emissions and removals from Annex I parties should be comparable to other Annex I parties. For comparability to happen, Annex I parties should use the methodologies and formats described and agreed by the Conference of the Parties (COP).

  • Completeness: The greenhouse gas report should cover at least all the sources and sinks, and gases.

  • Accuracy: The report submitted must be correct, that is, neither under nor over true emissions or removals, and those uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable.