The Paris Agreement and its accompanying decision call for Parties to strive to formulate mid-century communicate long-term low-greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) by 2020. Moreover, the Paris decision requests Parties to communicate a new or updated Nationally Determined...

Limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels will require ambitious mitigation action by a broad range of actors including Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), i.e., national governments, and...

Carbon markets are substantial and expanding. There are many lessons from experience over the past 9 years: fewer free allowances, careful moderation of low and high prices, and a recognition that trading systems require adjustments that have consequences for market participants and market...

The term low-emission development strategies (LEDS) first emerged under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2008 and its possible role in a future climate framework continues to be debated. Though no formally agreed definition exists, LEDS are generally used to...

In 2010, the international community took steps to improve the system of reporting and verification under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Parties to the UNFCCC decided at the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to enhance reporting for...

The Bali Action Plan (BAP) indicated the importance of “measurable, reportable and verifiable” (MRV) greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation actions and commitments, as well as support for GHG mitigation actions, in the post-2012 climate framework. Negotiations underway for this framework have...

Sectoral approaches are proposed as a means to broaden the global scope of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation to developing countries. Market mechanisms are put forward in that context to create incentives for mitigation in developing countries beyond the existing Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),...

This paper examines environmental and institutional implications of the use of tradable GHG units under different international accounting scenarios in the post-2012 international climate change policy framework. A range of possible scenarios is presented based on analysis on various building...

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol established reporting requirements for Parties. This has resulted in comprehensive and timely information on national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Annex I Parties, periodic reporting of other information from...

At COP 17 in Durban, countries defined a new market-based mechanism to promote cost-effective mitigation actions, guided by a set of principles previously agreed at COP 16. These principles include “stimulating mitigation across broad segments of the economy”, “ensuring a net decrease...