Timeline of world's fight to tackle climate change
A global deal on climate change now looks to be delayed by up to a year.
Telegraph.co.uk | 05 Nov 2009
Here is a timeline of key dates in the climate change negotiations:
June 1992: Rio World Summit - Following years of lobbying by environmentalists on the potential danger of global warming, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is set up. The primary objective is the stabilization of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere to stop temperatures rising. Some 192 countries have signed up so far.
Dec 1997: The Kyoto Protocol - Developed nations agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least five per cent by 2012 but the US later refuses to take action. Developing nations, like China, have no formal binding targets.
1998: Warmest year in warmest decade in warmest century for at least a thousand years, according to environmental group WWF.
2003: European heat wave kills more than 30,000 people. Scientists later claim it is the first extreme weather event definitely attributable to human-induced climate change.
2006: The most comprehensive economic assessment of climate change, by Lord Stern of Brentwood for the British Government, concludes that climate change could damage global GDP by up to 20 per cent if left unchecked - but curbing it would cost about one per cent of global GDP.
2007: The UN’s scientific committee the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes it is more than 90 per cent likely that humanity's emissions of greenhouse gases are responsible for modern-day climate change.
2007: Al Gore and IPCC win Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".
Dec 2007 Bali: UN talks to decide the next stage in climate change targets after the Kyoto Protocol. The Bali Road Map sets out a two-year process to finalizing a binding agreement in 2009 in Copenhagen. Issues that must be decided on include targets for cutting emissions, money to help poor countries adapt to climate change, sharing of green technology and the future of forests.
Nov 2008: UK passes the Climate Change Act committing the country to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050
Nov 2008: President Obama comes to power, prompting hope that the US will take a greater part in climate change negotiations.
Dec 2008 Poznan: Little progress on UN negotiations as many wait for the new Obama administration to declare its hand.
2009: China overtakes the US as the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter - although the US remains well ahead on a per-capita basis.
Nov 2009: Barcelona – In the latest round of UNFCCC negotiations officials admit a legally-binding treaty is unlikely by the end of the year because rich and poor nations cannot agree on targets.
Dec 2009: Copenhagen – The UNFCCC is due to meet to agree a treaty on climate change. Rich countries must sign up to carbon cuts while developing nations like China also take action to reduce their growing emissions. The world will also have to set up finance mechanisms to stop deforestation, move to a green economy and help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change.
June 2010: Bonn and Dec 2010 Mexico – The failure of Copenhagen to come to a legally-binding agreement means there will be subsequent meetings under the UNFCCC next year.
Dec 2012: The Kyoto Protocol will come to an end.
Jan 2013: The implementation period of any new deal on tackling climate change begins…
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