Timeline on International Agreements & commitments for action on Climate Change

By rushita

  • 1979 First World Climate Conference

    1979 First World Climate Conference. Climate change officially
    recognized as a serious problem needing an international
    response when evidence of increasing carbon dioxide levels
    established.

  • 1988 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

    1988 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
    and the World Meteorological Organization. The IPCC is a
    collaborative body comprising over 2,000 climate scientists
    worldwide. Its main activity is to provide at regular intervals an
    assessment of the state of knowledge on climate change.

  • 1990 First IPCC Report on Climate Change

    1990 First IPCC Report on Climate Change. The Report confirmed
    that climate change was a reality and was supported by scientific data.

  • 1992 Rio Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development)

    United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed by 154 governments.
    The objective of the Convention is to stabilize greenhouse gas
    concentrations. The governments of developed or annex I
    nations were voluntarily committed to developing national
    strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels
    by the year 2000.

  • 1995 First UNFCCC conference

    1995 First UNFCCC conference. Governments recognized that
    voluntary commitments were inadequate and work started to
    draft a protocol for adoption at the third Conference of Parties in
    1997. Second IPCC report concludes that the balance of evidence
    suggests a discernible human influence on the global climate.

  • 1997 The Kyoto Protocol signed by some 160 nations at third UNFCCC conference.

    1997 The Kyoto Protocol signed by some 160 nations at third
    UNFCCC conference. The Protocol calls for the first ever legally
    binding commitments to reduce carbon dioxide and five other
    greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2% below 1990 levels before
    2012. The US signed but has not ratified the protocol.

  • 2001 Third IPCC Report states that anthropogenic emissions will raise global mean temperature by 5.8 °C by 2050.

    2001 Third IPCC Report states that anthropogenic emissions will raise global mean temperature by 5.8 °C by 2050.

  • 2004 The Kyoto protocol is still ineffective

    2004 The Kyoto protocol is still ineffective. For the Kyoto
    Protocol to be effective at least 55 countries have to ratify (fully
    adopt the commitments) and there must be enough annex I
    (developed) countries which together are accountable for
    more than 55% of the emissions according to the 1990 levels.
    However the percentage of annex I countries is only 37.5%.

  • 2005 Kyoto treaty goes into effect

    2005 Kyoto treaty goes into effect, signed by major industrial nations
    except US. Work to retard emissions accelerates in Japan,
    Western Europe, US regional governments and corporations.

  • 2007 Fourth IPCC report warns that serious effects of warming have become evident;

    2007 Fourth IPCC report warns that serious effects of warming
    have become evident; cost of reducing emissions would be far
    less than the damage they will cause. Dec 2007 UN climate
    conference in Bali agreed on a Bali road map to have a global
    treaty by end.

  • 2008 Global economic crisis

    2008 Global economic crisis - reduction in international will to
    negotiate on carbon emissions reductions as national economies
    fall but this fall results in lower GHG emissions from industry.

  • 2009 China overtook the USA as the country with the largest greenhouse gas emissions

    2009 China overtook the USA as the country with the largest
    greenhouse gas emissions. 192 governments at the Copenhagen
    UN climate summit.

  • 2013 Milestone of 400 ppm carbon dioxide in atmosphere reached

    2013 Milestone of 400 ppm carbon dioxide in atmosphere reached.
    Apparent pause in warming explained as oceans have continued
    to warm.

  • 2014 Fifth IPCC report was the strongest warning yet that global warming is happening

    2014 Fifth IPCC report was the strongest warning yet that global
    warming is happening, human activities are mostly causing it
    through burning fossil fuels and increasing carbon dioxide levels
    in the atmosphere.

  • COP 21 - Historical Paris Agreement adopted

    195 nations agreed to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low-carbon, resilient and sustainable future, on 12 December 2015.
    The Paris Agreement for the first time brings all nations into a common cause based on their historic, current and future responsibilities.

  • COP 22 - 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 Climate Action.

  • COP 23 - Bula!

    The 2017 UN Climate Change Conference will take place from 6 to 17 November at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany, the seat of the Climate Change Secretariat.
    Bonn will also make history by being the first COP to be presided over by a small island developing state: in this case by the Presidency of Fiji.

  • COP23 - A Launch-Pad for Higher Ambition

    At the UN climate conference COP23 in Bonn, nations agree the next steps towards higher climate action ambition before 2020. Delegates launch the 'Talanoa Dialogue' to help set the stage for the revising upwards of national climate action plans needed to put the world on track to meet pre-2020 ambition and the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.

  • One Planet Summit Results in Finance Commitments

    World leaders gather in Paris to demonstrate how billions of dollars could be shifted towards a low-carbon future. Financial flows are crucial for countries' national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement.

  • President Donald Trump announces his intent to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement

    President Donald Trump announces his intent to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement

  • IPCC Confirms Importance of 1.5C Goal

    A special Global Warming of 1.5C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the need to maintain the strongest commitment to the Paris Agreement's aims of limiting global warming to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, which include more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms.

  • Governments Adopt 'Katowice Climate Package'

    In Poland, governments adopt a robust set of guidelines for implementing the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. The agreed 'Katowice Climate Package' operationalizes the climate change regime contained in the Paris Agreement, promotes international cooperation and encourages greater ambition.

  • Africa Climate Week

    Africa Climate Week in Accra is the first 'Regional Climate Week' of 2019. It will provide encouragement to the implementation of countries' Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement and climate action to deliver on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Latin America and Carribean Climate Week

    As another critical stepping stone to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' UN Climate Summit 2019 in September, the Latin America and Carribean Climate Week in Salvador, Brazil, will bring together diverse actors from the public and private sectors and demonstrate that there is genuine international support for stepping-up climate action.

  • UNSG's Climate Action Summit to Boost Ambition

    To boost ambition and to accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host a summit in New York. The Summit comes exactly one year before countries are set to enhance their national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.

  • EU to become climate neutral by 2050

    EU leaders agree to make the EU climate neutral by 2050 during a European Council meeting in Brussels.

  • The Green Deal

    The EU Commission presents the Green Deal. Using the European Climate Law, it aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050.

  • European Parliament declares climate emergency

    The European Parliament declares a climate emergency in Europe and globally. They want the Commission to ensure that all relevant legislative and budgetary proposals are fully aligned with the objective of limiting global warming to less than 1.5°C.

  • COP25 takes place in Madrid

    The longest COP conference on record concludes with an agreement on increased carbon cutting, but disappoints as decisions on a global carbon trading system, clarity on concrete emission cuts and a system to channel new finance to the most vulnerable countries are postponed to the next COP in Glasgow.

  • European Climate Law

    The European Parliament approves the Climate Law to make the EU and all member states climate neutral by 2050. It sets a more ambitious 2030 emissions reduction target to 60%.