International Climate Change Legislation

At international level, UN member states created in 1992 the most important international climate change treaty: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC).

The objective of this treaty is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (art. 2 – UNFCCC). The treaty itself sets no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. In that sense, the trety is considered legally non-binding. Yet, the signitories countries submit national inventories of greenhouse gases emissions.

In 1995, the Kyoto Protocol was signed, committing developed countries to adhere to a maximum cap on carbon emissions.

Another major step in combating climate change was the Paris Agreement, adopted on December 12, 2015, at COP21 in Paris. The Paris Agreement was signed by 196 parties and came into force on November 4, 2016. The primary goal of this agreement is to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with further efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C. The agreement involves commitments from all countries to submit and periodically update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to mobilize financing to support developing countries.

The next Conference of the Parties, COP 29, will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024.

Carbon Expert team remains at your service to help with your greenhouse emissions transactions within the European Emissions Trading Scheme since your business needs to optimally benefit from the CO2 trading and focus on its primary activities.

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We are here to offer you a broader perspective about the international carbon market and advise you towards those transactions types which best suit your needs.