October 1988
The Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere brought government and scientific experts together to discuss taking action on climate change in 1988. At this conference, governments of industrialized countries voluntarily pledged to cut CO2 emissions 20 percent by the year 2005.
The conference was critical to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international group of over 300 of the world's top climate scientists charged with peer reviewing and reporting the latest international science on climate change.
1990
In 1990, the IPCC released its First Assessment Report. The report stated that 60 to 80 percent cuts in CO2 emissions would be needed to stabilize the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gas concentration already was 25 percent higher than they were prior to the start of industrialization that prompted the intensive use of fossil fuelscoal, oil and gas.
June 1992
The Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) was finalized at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Since this time, a total of 165 governments, in addition to the European Union, have become Parties to the Convention. As a first step, industrialized countries agreed to stabilize their CO2 emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000.
March 1995
The first Ministerial level full meeting of the Convention, also known as the Conference of the Parties (COP I) took place at the Berlin "Climate Summit" in 1995. Participants to the Berlin meeting determined that the agreements reached under the FCCC were too weak, particularly as no provisions were made for cuts in greenhouse gases beyond the year 2000. Parties also agreed to the "Berlin Mandate" which called on participants to negotiate a legally binding agreement by the time of the third Conference of Parties (COP 3) in Kyoto Japan. This agreement was to contain specific "emissions limitations and reductions."
December 1995
In December, the United Nations published the IPCC's Second Assessment. The report, which involved well over 2,000 scientists and experts, concluded that "The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate."
July 1996
Held in Geneva, Switzerland, the Second Conference of Parties made little progress on CO2 reduction targets or timetables for a new Protocol. However, the vast majority of Ministers and leaders present at the meeting declared that the new IPCC science provides for "urgently strengthening action," to prevent dangerous climate change.
December 1997
Parties to the FCCC agreed to the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol commits industrialized nations to an overall reduction in emissions of the six major greenhouse gases 5.2 percent by the year 2012, based upon 1990 levels. A landmark environmental agreement, the Protocol was then opened for signature in March 1998.
April 1998
Since the Kyoto Protocol opened for signature in March, 34 nations have signed the Protocol, including Japan, Australia, the European Union, Brazil and Canada. The United States, as yet, declines to become a signatory.
June 1998
In Bonn, Germany, meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies to the FCCC. The first negotiating session since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, Parties to the Convention will grapple with loopholes and other issues that were not resolved in Kyoto.
November 1998
The Fourth Conference of the Parties will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.