Our glossary on climate foreign policy offers insights into key terms such as subsidy reduction, intergenerational justice, common but differentiated responsibility, climate justice, loss and damage, and the phase down/phase out of fossil fuels. Deepen your understanding of these important issues here.
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The term “Land Use, Land Use-Change, and Forestry” (LULUCF) encompasses various forms of land use and ecosystem management, including forestry. Agriculture, which is considered a separate sector, is not included (see also the term AFOLU).
Climate-related Loss and Damage describes the negative economic, cultural, and societal consequences of climate change that have already occurred. This concept is based on the realization that no amount of mitigation and adaptation can prevent all the negative effects of climate change. Indeed, some irreversible losses have already occurred and would increase rapidly, particularly if global warming rises more than 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
“National Adaptation Plans” (NAPs) are developed by parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Work on them began in 2010 at COP16 in Cancun as part of a diplomatic process known as the Cancun Adaptation Framework.
The “Nationally Determined Contributions” (NDCs) are to be submitted to the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat every five years by all parties to the Paris Agreement. They are meant to outline how each respective country plans to reduce emissions, thereby contributing to achieving the agreed-upon climate target – namely, limiting global warming to below 2°C and ideally to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The contribution objectives are to be regularly updated with a view to making them more stringent.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines negative emissions as the “removal of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities, i.e., in addition to the removal that would occur via natural carbon cycle processes.”
The term “Phase Down” refers to structured reduction in the use of fossil fuels, while “Phase Out” refers to its complete cessation. Fossil energy is produced by burning fossil fuels – primarily coal, oil, and natural gas – which releases greenhouse gases such as CO2.
The concept of planetary boundaries was first introduced in 2009. It describes the resilience of our planet and analyzes human influence on various parts of the Earth system.
The Santiago Network for Loss and Damage is an association of various international organizations, networks, initiatives, and institutions aiming to address and combat losses and damages caused by climate change.
Here, the term “subsidy” refers to financial contributions or support provided to produce, process, sell, or consume fossil fuels.
For years, small island states in the Pacific and other nations particularly affected by climate change had demanded support for addressing climate-related damages and losses. As a result, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with the impacts of climate change” (WIM) was established as an institution under the UNFCCC in November 2013.
