(modified text from the UNFCCC website http://www.unfccc.int/resource/index.html)

The emergence of political concern

 Increasing scientific evidence of human interference with the climate system, coupled with growing public concern over global environmental issues, began to push climate change onto the political agenda in the mid-1980s. Recognising the needs of policy-makers for authoritative and up-to-date scientific information, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) established the IPCC in 1988. That same year, following a proposal by the Government of Malta, the United Nations General Assembly took up the issue of climate change for the first time and adopted resolution 43/53 on the "Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind". In 1990, the IPCC issued its First Assessment Report, confirming that climate change was indeed a threat and calling for a global treaty to address the problem. This call was echoed by the Ministerial Declaration of the Second World Climate Conference, held in Geneva in October/November of that year. The UN General Assembly responded to these calls in December of 1990, formally launching negotiations on a framework convention on climate change by its resolution 45/212, and establishing an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to conduct those negotiations.

The Climate Change Convention

The INC met for the first time in February 1991. After just 15 months, on 9 May 1992, the INC adopted by consensus the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Convention was opened for signature at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the so-called "Earth Summit", in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 4 June 1992, and came into force on 21 March 1994. Today, 181governments and the European Community are Parties to the Convention. To become a Party, a country must ratify, accept, approve, or accede to, the Convention (follow the link for an explanation of these terms). Parties meet regularly at the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) to review the implementation of the Convention and continue talks on how best to tackle climate change.

The Convention sets an "ultimate objective" of stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at safe levels. Such levels, which the Convention does not quantify, should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. To achieve this objective, all countries have a general commitment to address climate change, adapt to its effects, and report on the action they are taking to implement the Convention. The Convention then divides countries into two groups: those listed in its Annex I (known as "Annex I Parties") and those that are not so listed (so-called "non-Annex I Parties").

The Annex I Parties are the industrialized countries who have historically contributed the most to climate change. Their per capita emissions are higher than those of most developing countries, and they have greater financial and institutional capacity to address the problem. The principles of equity and "common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the Convention therefore require these Parties to take the lead in modifying longer-term trends in emissions. To this end, Annex I Parties are committed to adopting national policies and measures with the non-legally binding aim of returning their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. They must also submit regular reports, known as National Communications, detailing their climate change policies and programmes, as well as annual inventories of their greenhouse gas emissions (Emission Inventories). Most Annex I Parties have now submitted two National Communications and the third is due on 30 November 2001. These National Communications are subject to individual In-Depth Review by teams of experts and a trial period will be launched in 2000 for a technical review of the annual Emission Inventories.

The Annex I Parties include both the relatively wealthy countries that were members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1992, and countries with "economies in transition" (known as EITs), that is, the Russian Federation and several other Central and Eastern European countries. The Convention allows EITs "a certain degree of flexibility" in implementing their commitments, owing to the major economic and political upheavals that have taken place in these countries. Several EITs have invoked this clause to choose a baseline earlier than 1990, that is, before the economic changes which led to big reductions in their emissions. The OECD members of Annex I are also listed in the Convention's Annex II. These countries have a special obligation to provide "new and additional financial resources" to developing countries to help them tackle climate change, as well as to facilitate the transfer of climate-friendly technologies to both developing countries and EITs.

The countries listed in Annex I are as follows: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Community, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey*, Ukraine, UK and USA. (Countries whose names are marked in bold are also included in Annex II and countries classified as EITs are underlined. Countries added to Annex I at COP 3 in 1997 are marked in italics, and an asterix (*) denotes countries that have not yet ratified the Convention).

All remaining countries, basically, the developing countries, make up the group of non-Annex I Parties. These countries must report in more general terms on their actions to address climate change and adapt to its effects. The time frame for the submission of their initial National Communications, including their Emission Inventories, is less tight than for Annex I Parties and is contingent on the receipt of funding from the Convention's financial mechanism, operated by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Because of this, non-Annex I Parties have only recently started to submit their National Communications. A consultative group of experts on non-Annex I Party National Communications was established by COP 5, in order to help improve those communications.

The Convention recognises that financial assistance and technology transfer are critical to enabling non-Annex I Parties to address climate change and adapt to its effects, in the context of their sustainable development. Financial assistance is provided by Annex II Parties and mostly channelled through the Convention's financial mechanism, operated by the GEF. The long-standing issue of technology transfer was given renewed impetus at COP 4, when Parties established a "consultative process" under the Chairman of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) with the aim of identifying meaningful and effective actions to promote the transfer of climate-friendly technology. Greater emphasis is now also being placed on supporting capacity-building initiatives in both non-Annex I Parties and EITs; for the first time, a separate decision on this issue was taken at COP 5.

The Kyoto Protocol

At the first COP, which was held in Berlin, Germany, in 1995, Parties decided that the specific commitments in the Convention for Annex I Parties were not adequate. They therefore launched a new round of talks to decide on stronger and more detailed commitments for these countries. After two and a half years of intense negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted at COP 3 on 11 December 1997.

The Kyoto Protocol commits Annex I Parties to individual, legally-binding targets to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, adding up to a total cut of at least 5% from 1990 levels in the period 2008-2012. The individual targets for Annex I Parties are listed in the Protocol's Annex B, and range from a -8% cut for the EU and several other countries, to a +10% increase for Iceland. (Under the terms of the Protocol, the EU may redistribute its target among its 15 member states. It has already reached agreement on such a scheme, known as a "bubble".) Although they are listed in the Convention's Annex I, Belarus and Turkey are not included in the Protocol's Annex B as they were not Parties to the Convention when the Protocol was adopted.

The targets cover emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, namely:

• carbon dioxide (CO2),

• methane (CH4),

• nitrous oxide (N2O),

• hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),

• perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

• sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

Some specified activities in the land-use change and forestry sector (namely, afforestation, deforestation and reforestation) that emit or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are also covered. All changes in emissions, and in removals by so-called "sinks", go into the same basket for accounting purposes.

The Protocol also establishes three innovative "mechanisms", known as joint implementation, emissions trading and the clean development mechanism, which are designed to help Annex I Parties reduce the costs of meeting their emissions targets by achieving or acquiring reductions more cheaply in other countries than at home. The clean development mechanism also aims to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development by promoting environmentally-friendly investment in their economies from industrialized country governments and businesses. However, while these mechanisms were agreed in principle in the Protocol, their operational details must now be fleshed out. In addition, Parties must develop the compliance system outlined in the Protocol, and further work is also needed on provisions for the land-use change and forestry sector, methodologies for estimating emissions and removals, and reporting obligations. How to address the vulnerability of developing countries is another issue on the post-Kyoto political agenda; some developing countries, such as low-lying island nations, are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, others feel more threatened by the potential economic repercussions of mitigation action. The Convention recognises both these dimensions of vulnerability, and also emphasises the special situation of least developed countries. At COP 4 in 1998, Parties agreed to a programme of work (the "Buenos Aires Plan of Action") to reach agreement on these various issues, to be completed by COP 6 in November 2000.

The Kyoto Protocol was open for signature between 16 March 1998 and 15 March 1999. 84 countries signed the Protocol during that period, including all but two Annex I Parties, indicating their acceptance of the text and intent to become Parties to it (states that did not sign may also become Parties). In order to enter into force, the Protocol must now be ratified (or adopted, approved, or acceded to) by 55 Parties to the Convention, including Annex I Parties accounting for 55% of carbon dioxide emissions from this group in 1990 (a list of the 1990 emissions of Annex I Parties can be found in the annex to the COP 3 report). Many Parties wish to bring the Protocol into force by 2002, in time for the tenth anniversary of the Rio Conference and of the adoption and signing of the Convention.

Key landmarks in the climate change process

Date	Landmark
1988	WMO and UNEP establish the IPCC. The UN General Assembly takes up climate change for the first time.
1990	The IPCC's First Assessment Report is published. It recommends the launch of negotiations on a global climate change agreement. The Second World Climate Conference also calls for the launch of negotiations. The UN General Assembly opens negotiations on a framework convention on climate change and establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to conduct these.
February 1991	The INC meets for the first time.
9 May 1992	The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted in New York.
4 June 1992	The Convention is opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
21 March 1994	The Convention enters into force, after receiving 50 ratifications.
7 April 1995	COP 1 launches a new round of negotiations on a "protocol or another legal instrument".
11-15 Dec 1995	The IPCC approves its Second Assessment Report on the science of climate change. Its findings underline the need for strong policy action.
19 July 1996	COP 2 takes note of the Geneva Ministerial Declaration, which acts as a further impetus to the on-going negotiations.
11 Dec 1997	COP 3 adopts the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan.
16 March 1998	The Kyoto Protocol is opened for signature at UN headquarters in New York. Over a one year period, it receives 84 signatures.
14 Nov 1998	COP 4 adopts the "Buenos Aires Plan of Action" to strengthen the implementation of the Convention and prepare for the Protocol's entry into force. COP 6 is set as the deadline for adopting many important decisions.
13 – 24 Nov 2000	COP 6 meets in The Hague, the Netherlands, to take key decisions on the implementation of the Convention and details of the Protocol, with no success.
July 2001	COP 6bis meets in Bonn, Germany, to continue the work of COP 6, and finally reaches a consensus.
23 Oct – 4 Nov 2001	COP 7 meets in Marrakech, Morocco, to take decisions, among others, the rules and modalities of implementing the Kyoto Protocol in the land use, land use change and forestry sector.
2002	"Rio + 10" "Earth Summit 2002", ten years on from the 1992 "Earth Summit".
200?	Entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol?
2005	Annex I Parties must have made "demonstrable progress" in achieving their commitments under the Protocol. Launch of talks for the next round of commitments post-2012.
2008-12	First commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
2013-17?	Second commitment period?

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