The first efforts of international cooperation on Climate Change (CC) began in the 1970s, mainly as a result of the efforts of the scientific community to draw international attention to the threats posed by global warming. In 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which issued a first assessment report in 1990, highlighting that global warming is real, thus urging countries to take action to address its impacts (J.T. Houghton, 1990). 

The Commission’s findings led to the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) submitted for signature at the Rio Conference in 1992, which served as the first international forum for climate negotiations. According to Article 4, all parties undertake general commitments to address climate change through, for example, mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its potential impacts. The Framework Convention sets out the goal of Annex I Members (industrialized countries that were members of OECD in 1992, as well as countries with economies in transition, including the Russian Federation, Baltic states, and several Central and Eastern European States) to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide and other anthropogenic greenhouse gases not regulated by the Montreal Protocol) to 1990 levels by the year 2000. 

The adaptation is recognized as a commitment in Article 4 of the Convention. The Parties to the Convention acknowledge that it is a global challenge faced by all with local, national, regional, and international dimensions. It is a key element of the long-term global response to Climate Change to protect people, livelihoods and ecosystems. The contracting Parties recognize that Adaptation action should follow a country-driven, participatory, and fully transparent approach, with the aim of integrating Adaptation into relevant socio-economic and environmental policies and actions. 

In contrast to mitigation, which has global benefits, Adaptation benefits are felt at a lower level, which is regional or local, and therefore measures are mostly implemented by local actors. Thus, at the national level, the Agreement follows two work streams. These are the National Adaptation Action Programs and the support of the National Adaptation Plans. 

The Convention was signed by Greece in 1992 and entered into force in 1994 by Law 2205/1994 (Government Gazette 60/A/15-4-1994). The responsible authority is the Ministry of Environment. 

For more information, see here: https://unfccc.int/ 

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 169 targets, were adopted at the 70th United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2015, with the Resolution “Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (A/RES/70/1). The 2030 Agenda promotes the integration of all three dimensions of sustainable development—social, environmental, and economic—in all sectoral policies, while promoting the interconnection and coherence of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-related policy and legislative frameworks. Sustainable development can be realized through addressing challenges associated with the following five pillars (5 Ps): – People, – Planet, – Prosperity, – Peace, – Partnership (United Nations, 2020). 

Regarding Adaptation, it should be noted that among the basic conditions for the implementation of the SDGs is strategic long-term planning to address various challenges in terms of sustainable development. These challenges include unemployment, resource management, demographic issues, and the provision of services. More specifically, goals 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 (particularly goal 13 related to actions on Climate Change) set a fundamental requirement for implementation, which is the existence of strategic planning both at the directive level and at the city or metropolitan area level, as these are the cores of development (Hellenic Republic, 2018). 

Goal 13 for Climate Action is entitled: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” and was created in the context that Climate Change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones. In doing so, it exacerbates water management problems, reduces agricultural production and food security, increases health risks, damages critical infrastructure and disrupts the provision of basic services such as water and sanitation, education, energy and transport. 

Greece is committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals, through which the balance between economic growth, social cohesion, and justice as well as environmental protection and ecology is ensured. The ranking scale of the countries regarding the SDG indicators ranges from zero (0) to one hundred (100), with Greece ranked 48th among 156 countries, with a score of 70.6. Regarding climate actions (SDG 13), Greece has a score of 78.1, which results from the achievement of the indicators a) energy combined with CO2 emissions per capita, b) monitoring climate change vulnerability, and c) integration of CO2 in fossil fuel exports (Ministry of Environment and Energy, 2016). 

The task of monitoring and coordinating the national implementation of the SDGs has been assigned to the Presidency of the Greek Government (the entity that now incorporates the former General Secretariat of the Government), in order to ensure policy coherence. 

For more information, see here: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change/. 

The Paris Agreement emerged from COP21, the 21st Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC held in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015 and falls within the framework of the UNFCCC. 

The goal of the agreement is to reduce global warming as described in Article 2, “enhancing the implementation” of the UNFCCC by: a) holding the increase in global average temperature to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing the efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, b) increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and strengthen climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a way that does not threaten food production and c) making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and a climate-resilient development (United Nations, 2015). 

The Agreement requires national cooperation by the Parties through national Adaptation activities. According to Article 7.9, the parties “engage, as appropriate, in Adaptation planning processes and the implementation of actions, including the development or enhancement of relevant fields, policies, or contributions.” Such planning and implementation processes include actions related to Adaptation actions, national Adaptation plans, nationally determined priority actions, sustainability, and resilience building. By allowing parties to create their own Adaptation actions in any way they deem appropriate, it enables the differentiation that will guide national Adaptation planning and the implementation processes. Moreover, as applicable, it requires all Parties to participate in the planning and implementation of Adaptation through e.g. national Adaptation plans, vulnerability assessments, monitoring and evaluation, and economic diversification. 

In 2016, Greece ratified the Paris Agreement. According to Law 4426/2016, the Ministry of Environment and Energy is responsible for its implementation. 

For more information, see here: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement. 

• United Nations (UN): https://unfccc.int/ 

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): https://www.ipcc.ch/ 

• World Meteorological Organization (WMO): https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate