 COP27 has been finally concluded after prolonged discussions and negotiations. To know about what was discussed in this COP27, you need to first know about UNFCCC and also about Paris Agreements. To know about both these topics, watch this video fully. Let us start with UNFCCC or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change. This committee held five sessions where more than 150 states discussed about targets and timetables for emissions reductions, finance mechanisms, technology transfer and common but differentiated responsibilities of developed and developing countries where the other major discussion topics. The negotiations led to a convention called UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which is shortly known as UNFCCC. In May 1992, the text of this convention was adapted at the United Nations Equators in New York. In June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio, this convention was opened for signature. The convention brought the world together to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change. See, it has two sister conventions which were also agreed in Rio. They are UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Decertification. On March 21, 1994, the UNFCCC entered into force. It has been ratified by 197 countries till now. The countries that have ratified the convention are called UNFCCC Conference of Parties. The parties agreed to meet annually at the Conference of Parties to negotiate multilateral responses to climate change. The headquarters of COP is located in Bonn, Germany. You may have questions about whether UNFCCC is legally binding or not. The answer for this question is no. UNFCCC is itself not legally binding. It does not set mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. But the protocols that are the result of UNFCCC Conference of Parties like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement set emission targets. The set emission targets leads to binding enforcement mechanisms which makes them legally binding. This is a brief introduction about UNFCCC. Now let us take up the Paris Agreement for discussion. The Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 countries at COP21 which was held in Paris in December 2015. It is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. Through this agreement, the world nations agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C preferably limited to 1.5°C. It also aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with climate change. The Paris Agreement introduced the concept of nationally determined contribution. It requires all parties to put forward their best efforts through their nationally determined contributions. These NDC are like climate pledges made by the countries and the pledges are totally voluntary. The Paris Agreement also have a provision requiring developing countries to send 100 billion dollars annually to their developing counterparts. This was being done to help the developing countries in their emission reduction measures. This is all about the Paris Agreement. Now the countries in the COP27 will be focusing on three things. Firstly, they will try to review the progress made by the world nations so far in regards to the emission control. Secondly, they will try to raise the global ambition for emission reduction in the future. Finally, the discussion will be about the funds to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change. Although these three points sound good on paper, climate scientists are worried. Why are they worried? Firstly, according to UN EPS Emission Gap report 2022, even if all the world nations strictly implement their NDCs, there is a high possibility that global warming will rise to 1.8°C. Secondly, the report also says that compared to 2019, the global CO2 emissions have increased in the year 2021. This trend will continue till the year 2030. If this happens, the effect on global climate will be disastrous. Now coming to the third point, the report also says that the G20 countries amount for 75% of global emissions. The richest among the G20 nations are responsible for accumulated emissions since the industrial revolution. Here, the richest nation tag denotes those western countries which were emitting a huge quantity of carbon dioxide from the 1900s onwards. Here note that the scientific community is also worried about the tipping point. What is the tipping point? Tipping point is a scenario that once reached, there is no coming back and it will result in irreversible consequences. Scientist Johan Rockstrom says that the tipping point will be reached when global warming reaches 1.5°C. When this happens, there will be collapse of Greenland ice sheet and West Antarctic ice sheet. This will also lead to the thawing of the boreal permafrost, which will have an impact on the monsoons. Johan Rockstrom is also worried that the current steps taken by the global countries will not be adequate to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Even if by some miracle we manage to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, there will still be damage to the environment. According to the sixth assessment report of the IPCC, by 2040 there will be biodiversity laws, Arctic ice laws and threat to coastal environments. This will result in a spiraling of conflicts, migration of affected people and challenges to access to water and energy in urban areas due to increase in migration. If we allow global temperatures to rise to 2°C, the following will be the consequences. Firstly, there will be a decline in glaciers. Secondly, due to decline in glaciers, there will be less snow melt or melted water from the glaciers, so the rivers will dry up. This will result in less water for irrigation and human settlements and also for the animals. On the other hand, there will be increase in flooding due to extreme weather events, which include heavy rainfall. This will make 18% of the species on land to go extinct. This is about the tipping point and the effects of global warming. Now, let us see the negotiations that took place in COP 27. The point of conflict in COP 27 is the issue surrounding the compensation mechanism. We all know that it is the industrialized nations that contributed to the majority of the historic emissions. It is due to their actions that the rest of the world's nations are facing the consequences of climate change. So, countries most affected by the effects of a changing climate have been seeking loss and damage payments from the rich industrialized nations. These countries want the rich industrialized nations to provide funding to climate affected countries apart from the $100 billion mandated in the Paris Agreement. This particular issue came up during the discussions during the COP 26 Glasgow and the industrialized nations did not accept the compensation mechanism. Likewise, this time also the industrialized countries mainly the US has not accepted the compensation mechanism through which the industrialized countries provide funds to the climate change affected countries. This is all about the negotiations.