Revisiting "Common But Differentiated Responsibilities": Opportunities for the 2015 Climate Agreement

Event Type
Panel Discussion

Location / Date
Bonn, 11.03.2014

German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

The notion of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is a cornerstone of international climate policy. It essentially acknowledges that individual countries’ contributions to global warming are often at odds with the climate change impacts they will be facing while at the same time there exist considerable differences in countries' capacities and development levels. The logic of CBDR was thus paramount to establish an international legal framework for climate policy in the 1990s. However, its static and dichotomous application to "Annex I" and "Non-Annex I" parties has since proved a major obstacle to the negotiation of the universal new climate agreement that is envisioned for 2015 under the UNFCCC’s "Durban Platform".

Against this background the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) presented the Discussion Paper "Different perspectives on differentiated responsibilities" that reviews the realities of CBDR in international negotiations. Together with renowned experts in global climate policy and international development we thus aimed to stimulate an open-minded debate on future interpretations and the prospective implementation of CBDR under the 2015 climate agreement. To this end, we also discussed CBDR-like notions that have been put into practice elsewhere, including in the World Trade Organization, the Montreal Protocol or the ongoing process towards universal Sustainable Development Goals. Together with our distinguished guest speakers J. Timmons Roberts (Brown University) and Li Xiaoyun (China Agriculture University) as well as DIE deputy director Imme Scholz and lead authors Pieter Pauw and Steffen Bauer we looked forward to an out of the box discussion that may facilitate a reinvigoration of CBDR as a meaningful guiding principle for a 2015 climate agreement under the UNFCCC.

Agenda

Welcome & Introduction
by Dr. Steffen Bauer and Pieter Pauw, German Development Institute/ Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) 

Presentation
"Different perspectives on differentiated responsibilities: A state-of-the-art review of the notion of common but differentiated responsibilities in international negotiations"

Commentaries by

• Prof. J. Timmons Roberts, Brown University, Providence, USA
• Prof. Li Xiaoyun, China Agriculture University, Beijing, China

Q&A and panel discussion facilitated by Dr. Imme Scholz, Deputy Director, German Development Institute/ Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

The panel discussion was followed by a reception with snacks and drinks.

The Panellists: 

Li Xiaoyun is Dean of the College of Humanities and Development Studies and Director of the Research Centre for International Development at China Agricultural University in Beijing, China. He is also the Director of the OECD/China-DAC Study Group and an advisor to the Chinese government on international affairs as well as poverty reduction. He has published more than 30 books and some 200 scientific papers and received numerous honours, including the China State Council Special Contribution Award and China Poverty Reduction Award.

J. Timmons Roberts is Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island (USA). He co-authored a variety of books, including the seminal A Climate of Injustice. Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy (with Bradley C. Parks, MIT Press 2007), as well as over seventy articles and book chapters. His current research focuses on north-south dynamics and the role of foreign aid in climate change and international development as well as on the relevance of social factors to explaining emission pathways. His core focus is on how equity affects our ability to address complex global problems.

Steffen Bauer is a senior researcher in the department Environmental Policy and Natural Resources Management at German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik. He holds a PhD in political science from Freie Universität Berlin and is a leading co-author of the Discussion Paper "Different perspectives on differentiated responsibilities". He specialises on global environmental politics and sustainable development with a special focus on United Nations processes and institutions.

Pieter Pauw is a researcher in the department Environmental Policy and Natural Resources Management at German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik and lead author of the Discussion Paper "Different perspectives on differentiated responsibilities". He specialises on climate finance and climate adaptation and the role of the private sector in this context, and is contributing author to the IPCC's fifth assessment report.

Imme Scholz is deputy director of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik and former head of the institute's Environmental Policy and Natural Resources Management department (2002-2010). She is a member of the German Council of Sustainable Development, an independent advisory body to the federal government, and holds a PhD in sociology from Freie Universität Berlin. She specialises on sustainable development, global environmental governance, climate change and forest policy, especially in the Amazon region.

Hinweis

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