List of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty negotiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992. The objective of the treaty is to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".
The treaty itself set no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. In that sense, the treaty is considered legally non-binding. Instead, the treaty provides a framework for negotiating specific international treaties that may set binding limits on greenhouse gases.
The UNFCCC was opened for signature on 9 May 1992, after an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee produced the text of the Framework Convention as a report following its meeting in New York from 30 April to 9 May 1992. It entered into force on 21 March 1994. As of December 2015, UNFCCC has 197 parties.
Parties
As of 2015, the UNFCCC has 197 parties including all United Nations member states, United Nations General Assembly observer State of Palestine, UN non-member states Niue and the Cook Islands and the supranational union European Union. In addition, the Holy See is an observer state.Classification of Parties by the Annex
Parties to the UNFCCC are classified as:- Annex I: There are 43 Parties to the UNFCCC listed in Annex I of the Convention, including the European Union. These Parties are classified as industrialized countries and "economies in transition". The 14 EITs are the former centrally-planned economies of Russia and Eastern Europe.
- Annex II: Of the Parties listed in Annex I of the Convention, 24 are also listed in Annex II of the Convention, including the European Union. These Parties are made up of members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Annex II Parties are required to provide financial and technical support to the EITs and developing countries to assist them in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and manage the impacts of climate change.
- Non-Annex I: Parties to the UNFCCC not listed in Annex I of the Convention are mostly low-income developing countries. Developing countries may volunteer to become Annex I countries when they are sufficiently developed.
- Least-developed countries : 49 Parties are LDCs, and are given special status under the treaty in view of their limited capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Party negotiation groups
- SIDS
- African Group
- LDCs
- G77 & China
- EIG
- Umbrella Group
- EU
List of parties
| State | Classification | Signature | Ratification | Notes |
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Applies to Macao, extended by Portugal on 28 June 1999. Application remained in force after transfer of sovereignty to China. Applies to Hong Kong from 8 April 2003. | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | At its request, added to Annex I as an EIT by an amendment which entered into force in 1998. | |||
| Annex I | At its request, added to Annex I by an amendment which entered into force in 2013. | |||
| Annex I, EIT | At its request, replaced Czechoslovakia in Annex I as an EIT by an amendment which entered into force in 1998. | |||
| Annex I, II | Including Faroe Islands and Greenland | |||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | Ratified as the European Economic Community. | |||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I | At its request, added to Annex I by an amendment which entered into force in 1998. | |||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I | At its request, added to Annex I by an amendment which entered into force in 2010. | |||
| Annex I | At its request, added to Annex I by an amendment which entered into force in 1998. | |||
| Annex I, II | Excluding Aruba, Curaçao, Caribbean Netherlands and Sint Maarten | |||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Acceded as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2001. The FR Yugoslavia had previously signed and ratified the UNFCCC, but this was not recognized by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as depositary because UN membership or membership of a UN specialized agency is a prerequisite to become party to the convention, and the succession of the FR Yugoslavia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was disputed. | ||||
| Annex I, EIT | At its request, replaced Czechoslovakia in Annex I as an EIT by an amendment which entered into force in 1998. | |||
| Annex I, EIT | At its request, added to Annex I as an EIT by an amendment which entered into force in 1998. | |||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I, II | ||||
| Annex I | Turkey was originally listed in both Annex I and Annex II of the UNFCCC. It refused to ratify the Convention, as it objected to its listing in the annexes. In 1997 a proposal was submitted that Annex I and Annex II be amended to remove Turkey. Though no consensus could be reached on this proposal, a compromise was reached and an amendment that entered into force in 2002 removed Turkey from Annex II. | |||
| Annex I, EIT | ||||
| Annex I, II | Including Jersey, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Falkland Islands. Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos Islands or the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia: not applied | |||
| Annex I, II | ||||