International agreements and commitments for action timeline

  • First world climate conference

    climate change officially recognised as a serious problem needing an international response.
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established.

    established by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the world Meteorological Organisation, the IPCC is a collaborative body comprising of over 2000 climate scientists worldwide.
  • first IPCC report on climate change.

    The report confirmed that climate change was a reality and was supported by scientific data.
  • Rio Earth summit (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)

    United Nations framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) was signed by 154 governments. Objective is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations. The government of developed or annex 1 nations were voluntarily committed to developing national strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000
  • first UNFCCC conference

    Governments recognised that voluntary commitments were inadequate and work started to draft a protocol for adoption at the third conference of parties in 1997.
  • The Kyoto Protocol was signed by some 160 nations at the third UFCCC conference.

    the protocol calls for the first ever legally binging commitments to reduce CO2 and five other greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2% believe 1990 levels before 2012.
  • Third IPCC report

    IPCC states that anthropogenic emissions will raise global mean temperature by 5.8% by 2050
  • Kyoto protocol still ineffective

    for protocol to be effective at least 55 countries have to ratify and there must be enough annex 1 countries which together are accountable for more than 55% of the emissions according to the 1990 levels.
  • kyoto treaty goes into effect.

    it is signed by major industrial nations, apart from US. Work to retard emissions accelerates in Japan, Western Europe, US regional government and corporations.
  • Fourth IPCC report

    Report warns that serious effects of global warming have become evident and the cost of reducing emissions will be far less than the damage they will cause.
  • UN climate conference in Bali

    agreed on a Bali road map to have a global treaty by end.
  • Global economics crisis

    reduction in international will to negotiate on carbon emissions reduction as national economies fall but the fall results in lower GHG emissions from industry
  • China overtook USA as largest greenhouse gas emitters and 192 governments are present at the Copenhagen UN climate Summit

  • Fifth IPCC report

    strongest warning yet that global warming is happening, human activities are mostly using it through burning fossil fuels and increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
  • Paris Agreement adopted

    195 nations agreed to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low-car-born, resilient and sustainable future.
  • Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action launched

    A crucial outcome of the Marrakech climate conference was to move forward on writing the rule book of the Paris agreement. The conference successfully demonstrated to the world that the implementation of the Paris agreement is underway, and launched the Marrakech partnership for global climate action.