UNFCCC
Author of this article: Philip Beckschäfer
IPCC issued a First Assessment Report (FAR) in 1990, which reflected the views of 400 scientists to state that global warming was real and urged that something be done about it. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (1992), these findings incited governments of the world to create the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This international environmental treaty became effective in 1994 and has been signed by 194 states (parties). It commits signatories' governments to a voluntary non-binding aim to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) with the goal of “preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with Earth's climate system.” The UNFCCC sets no mandatory limits on GHG emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms; instead, the treaty provides for updates, called "protocols“ (e.g. the Kyoto Protocol) which set mandatory emission limits.
