The Berlin Mandate and the AGBM Process

Abstract

The political process that started immediately after the Rio Conference and included the negotiations leading to the Kyoto gathering is the subject of this Chapter. The FCCC established the playing field and some fundamental rules for the game of international climate policy. More specific rules of the game were developed later, in the ensuing process. The first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 1), then set the stage for the Kyoto process with the adoption of the Berlin Mandate (Sections 4.1 and 4.2). The special negotiating body established to carry out the Berlin Mandate, the Ad hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM), took further important strategic decisions (Sections 4.3–4.6). The process leading to Kyoto can be divided in two phases before and after COP 2, with the adoption of the Geneva Declaration at COP 2 being a watershed (Section 4.5). Up until Kyoto, governments used the AGBM process to define and narrow down the available options (Section 4.6). However, the most contentious issues remained unresolved before the gathering in Japan.