Bottom Line on International Climate Negotiations

This fact sheet by the World Resources Institute outlines the foundational agreements and key points of contention leading up to the December 2009 climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, including the roles of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Bali Action Plan.

• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, establishes that climate change results from human activities like fossil fuel combustion and deforestation. It identifies industrialized countries (Annex I Parties) as the leaders in climate action due to their greater financial capacity and historic responsibility for emissions. While ratified by 192 countries, its obligations are described as largely aspirational.
• The 1997 Kyoto Protocol set binding greenhouse gas emission targets for the European community and 37 industrialized nations, aiming for an average reduction of five percent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. It introduced flexible mechanisms like joint implementation (JI) and the clean development mechanism (CDM) to allow developed nations to earn credits by funding reductions in other countries. The United States signed but did not ratify the Protocol.
• The 2007 Bali Action Plan introduced 'Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions' (NAMAs), allowing developing countries to implement climate actions based on local circumstances with financial support from developed nations. This plan requires that mitigation and support obligations for both developed and developing countries be measured, reported, and verified.
• Negotiations in Copenhagen focus on five primary areas: mitigation (specifically NAMAs and support mechanisms), adaptation (addressing under-funded aid for vulnerability reduction), forests (specifically Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD), technology (including R&D and intellectual property rights), and finance (with developing nations requesting support for adaptation and technology).
• There are two potential outcomes for the legal framework in Copenhagen: retaining the Kyoto Protocol as the primary instrument for developed countries while adding a separate agreement for developing countries, or replacing Kyoto with a new comprehensive legal instrument that includes obligations for all countries.

APA

World Resources Institute (2009). Bottom Line on International Climate Negotiations. https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-international-climate-negotiations

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Bottom Line on International Climate Negotiations. 2009. https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-international-climate-negotiations.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Bottom Line on International Climate Negotiations |date=2009 |url=https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-international-climate-negotiations |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2009bottom, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Bottom Line on International Climate Negotiations}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2009}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-international-climate-negotiations}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }