1. “Cancun Accords – Agreement & Implications”
(Content of this article has been collected from various sources available on internet)
The United Nations Climate Change Conference took
place in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10
December 2010. It encompassed the sixteenth Conference
of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the
Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto
Protocol.
The Cancun Agreements has the two key documents
Outcome of the AWG-LCA and Outcome of the AWG-
KP. Unlike last year's Copenhagen Accord, the Cancun
Accord provides a good detail on how the international
community plans to cut emissions in the coming future. Overall 26 agreements were reached in Cancun.
The agreement covers establishment of a new Green Climate Fund to help poor nations, measures to protect
tropical forests and a mechanism for clean energy
David Cameron, Prime Minister, United technology transfer to poorer nations. It also reaffirmed
Kingdom a commitment reached at last year's Copenhagen
"The Cancun agreement is a very significant step conference to provide $100 billion a year to help
forward in renewing the determination of the
developing countries fight global warming. The key
international community to tackle climate change
through multilateral action”
outcome of the accord has been listed and explained
below
“Industrialized country targets are officially recognized under the multilateral process and
these countries are to develop low-carbon development plans and strategies and assess how
best to meet them, including through market mechanisms, and to report their inventories
annually”
This is a major step towards a treaty as it moves
developing countries and the US a step closer to Mark Kenber, Deputy CEO, The
accepting some form of "binding" emissions targets. The Climate Group
Agreements codify pledges by the world's largest emitters "Agreement in Cancun is a major
- including China, the United States, the European Union, shot in the arm to the international
India, and Brazil - to various targets and actions to reduce climate process”
emissions by 2020. The distinction between Annex I and
non-Annex I countries is blurred even more in the Cancun Agreements than it was in the
Copenhagen Accord. For businesses it solidifies the voluntary emission targets already adopted by
many governments and provides further evidence that if these targets do change they are only
going to get more demanding.
“Developing country actions to reduce emissions are officially recognized under the
multilateral process. A registry is to be set up to record and match developing country
mitigation actions to finance and technology support from by industrialized countries”
Agreement elaborate on the mechanisms for monitoring and
Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam verification that were laid out in last year's Accord.
International Importantly, these now include "international consultation
"Negotiators have resuscitated the UN talks and analysis" of developing country mitigation actions.
and put them on a road to recovery” Developing countries will now need to submit to a regime
of international verification for their emissions targets in
return for access to climate finance. This was one of the major barriers to a deal and it looks to
have been overcome after China and India appeared to accept the need for some form of
monitoring. For businesses, it means they will inevitably come under more and more legal
pressure to report on their greenhouse gas emissions.
“The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanisms has been strengthened to drive more
major investments and technology into environmentally sound and sustainable emission

2. reduction projects in the developing world. Parties meeting under the Kyoto Protocol agree
to continue negotiations with the aim of completing their work and ensuring there is no gap
between the first and second commitment periods of the treaty”
The Agreement endorse an ongoing role for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other
"market-based mechanisms;" indicate that carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects should be
eligible for carbon credits in the CDM. Although, Japan, Russia and others insist they will not sign
up to a second commitment period, while
China, India and virtually every other Richard Gledhill, head of climate change and
developing country insists they must sign on carbon markets, PwC
"The Cancun Agreement is a stepping stone to a
to extend the deal, one mooted proposal is
legally binding international deal and potentially
that Kyoto is extended for just two years; to the ratcheting up of ambition in Europe – from
while a parallel binding treaty is finalized a 20 per cent cut by 2020 to 30 per cent. A shift to
covering all nations. That way industrialized 30 per cent would push up carbon prices and help
countries will remain covered by a legal drive low carbon investment”
instrument for cutting emissions, while
developing countries will also be folded into an agreement with binding targets for all.
“In the field of climate finance, a process to design a Green Climate Fund under the
Conference of the Parties, with a board with equal representation from developed and
developing countries, is established. A total of $30 billion in fast start finance from
industrialized countries to support climate action in the developing world up to 2012 and the
intention to raise $100 billion in long-term funds by 2020 is included in the decisions”
The Agreements establish a so-called Green Climate Fund to deliver financing for mitigation and
adaptation. In addition, the Agreements establish a goal by developed countries to mobilize $100
billion annually by 2020 to support mitigation and adaptation in developing countries, a funding
target which would include public and private resources, bilateral and multilateral flows, as well as
the Green Climate Fund. It’s a significant breakthrough and a sizable victory for developing
countries. The formation of a single fund will drastically simplify climate financing and make it
easier to avoid double counting of aid payments. It will also ensure that investment is more clearly
focused on projects that work.
Other key outcomes:
 Parties launched a set of initiatives and institutions to protect the vulnerable from
climate change and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries
need to plan and build their own sustainable futures.
 Parties have established a technology mechanism with a Technology Executive
Committee and Climate Technology Centre and Network to increase technology
cooperation to support action on adaptation and mitigation.
 A new Cancún Adaptation Framework is established to allow better planning and
implementation of adaptation projects in developing countries through increased
financial and technical support, including a clear process for continuing work on loss
and damage.
 Governments agree to boost action to curb emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation in developing countries with technological and financial support.
The acceptance of the Cancun Agreements suggests that the international diplomatic community may now
recognize that incremental steps in the right direction are better than acrimonious debates over
unachievable targets. This strengthens COP-16 to continue the process of constructing a sound foundation
for meaningful, long-term global action. While the Cancun accord has its weaknesses, it is much better than
no deal at all. Given the massively wide range of political, economic and technical approaches to climate-
change policy across the world, it may now be impossible to frame a much stronger international agreement
that would satisfy governments, businesses and civil society groups.