Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 07/2010

Toward a Post-2010 International Climate Agreement

Fulvio Conti

March 2010

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

Abstract

Negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Copenhagen in December 2009 did not produce a new international treaty with binding emissions commitments, but have defined a roadmap for dealing with global climate change in the post-2012 era. As countries continue to pursue new models for global agreement, it will be important to learn from the weaknesses of past approaches, while building on positive aspects of the experience with the Kyoto Protocol so far.