One sky, about 200 governments: Greenhouse gases do not stop at borders. The air is a global commons, so cuts by a few countries cannot avoid catastrophic climate change.
The points to remember
- The atmosphere is a global commons: gases from every country mix and warm the whole planet.
- State sovereignty: each country makes its own laws, and no world government can force it to cut.
- If only some states act, others can free-ride: they keep the benefits and avoid the costs.
- Polluting industries can move to countries with weaker rules, so emissions just shift.
- Catastrophic change is avoided only if total global emissions fall.
- So countries must cooperate: negotiate, then sign conventions, protocols and treaties.
Remember it as: One sky, many governments: only a deal between all of them works.
Real example: in 2023 China emitted about 30% of the world's carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, the USA about 13% and the 27 countries of the European Union about 7%. Even if the EU cut its emissions to zero on its own, over 90% of the world's emissions would carry on.
Use the guide's words: Write state sovereignty, global commons and international cooperation: they show why measures by only some states are not enough.
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Since 1992 the United Nations has led three main climate agreements. Each one tried to fix the weak spot of the one before.
The UN climate treaties
- UNFCCC (1992, Rio): the framework; aim to stabilise greenhouse gases; almost every country; meets yearly (COP).
- Kyoto Protocol (1997): binding cuts for rich countries only, about 5% below 1990 by 2008-2012.
- Kyoto set targets top-down and allowed carbon trading; the USA never ratified it.
- Paris Agreement (2015): every country; keep warming well below 2 °C, aim for 1.5 °C.
- Paris is bottom-up: each country sets its own plan (NDC) and must strengthen it every 5 years.
- Paris also asks rich countries to give climate finance and all countries to report progress.
Kyoto: top-down
- Targets handed to countries
- Binding, rich countries only
- Big emitters stayed out
Paris: bottom-up
- Each country writes its own plan
- Every country takes part
- Pledges may be too weak
Real example: the USA joined the Paris Agreement in 2016, left it in 2020, rejoined in 2021 and in January 2025 announced it would leave again. Sovereignty means each new government can change the country's mind.
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From talks to rules: Countries agree in steps: they negotiate, sign a framework, add detailed rules, and then look for ways to make others take part.
The tools of global action
- Negotiation: countries meet (the yearly COP) and bargain until all can agree.
- Convention: a broad framework agreement, such as the UNFCCC.
- Protocol: adds detailed, often binding rules to a convention, such as Kyoto.
- Treaty: any written agreement between states that binds those who ratify it.
- Sanctions push countries that do not act, e.g. a cross-border carbon tax on their exports.
- A country can still leave: sovereignty means joining is voluntary.
Real example: the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is a cross-border carbon tax. From 1 January 2026, companies importing steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity or hydrogen into the EU must pay for the carbon released in making them. Factories in countries without a carbon price lose their cost advantage, so they have a reason to cut.
Do not mix them up: A convention sets the framework; a protocol adds the detailed rules to it. The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the UNFCCC convention.
Questions ask how well international agreements work. Learn both sides, then the values behind each kind of action.
Agreements help
- A global problem needs a global answer: only agreements bring every emitter in.
- UN agreements carry international recognition, and some rules are binding.
- Talks raise the profile of climate change and set shared targets.
- Climate finance and trade deals can make action fair between rich and poor countries.
Agreements fall short
- Agreements take years to negotiate and ratify.
- Most pledges are voluntary: there is no world police to enforce them.
- Countries can leave or free-ride, and short-term politics changes plans.
- Rules can be unfair to some countries, and global emissions are still rising.
Whose values shape global action?
- Anthropocentric values lead most global action: laws, carbon taxes, emissions trading, negotiation.
- Technocentric values: new technology, e.g. renewables, carbon capture, desalination, flood defences.
- Ecocentric values: protect forests (UN-REDD), use less energy, consume less, farm locally.
- Cornucopians say technology will fix it; environmental managers back treaties and markets.
- Soft ecologists want renewables and greener lifestyles; deep ecologists want far lower consumption.
Real example: after the Paris Agreement in 2015, world emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels still rose, from about 35.5 billion tonnes to about 37.4 billion tonnes in 2023, apart from a dip in 2020 when the pandemic stopped travel. Pledges alone did not cut emissions.
For a 9-mark essay: Name at least two agreements, give arguments on both sides, link each to a value system, and end with a clear judgement.
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How this comes up: Paper 2, Section B (c): a 9-mark essay on international efforts, marked on the quality of the whole answer.
At COP28 in Dubai in 2023, almost 200 countries agreed for the first time to 'transition away from fossil fuels', but they set no date and no penalty.
To what extent are international agreements an effective way of tackling climate change?
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.