This report provides an overview of the development of the negotiations within the UNFCCC since COP 15 in Copenhagen. It summarises the key developments in 2010 and provides short overviews for all negotiation areas. The overview also includes a state of play of the Copenhagen Accord and...

This report provides an overview of the development of the negotiations within the UNFCCC since COP 17 in Durban. It summarises the key developments in 2011 and provides short overviews for all negotiation areas. The overview also includes a state of play of the Cancún Agreement and explains...

The international community is negotiating a new global climate agreement to be applicable from 2020 onwards. Parties aim at signing the agreement in December 2015, at the Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris. Until then, countries are already preparing proposals for their individual...

A whole bundle of so-called "flexible mechanisms" has been foreseen by the Kyoto Protocol in order to help industrial countries to fulfil their agreed reduction targets in the most costeffective way. Emission permits will act as the backbone of all market-orientated mechanisms. Therefore, their...

The Kyoto Protocol sets legally binding emission targets for industrialized countries without accounting for reductions carried out prior to 2008, the beginning of the first commitment period. There exists only one exception, the project-based Clean Development Mechanism. Two other possible ways...

The authors suggest a multi-layered system of three convergence criteria - similar to those used in the run-up to the European monetary union - that define the notion of "demonstrable progress" towards reaching the emission commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. These are the existence of an...