United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty created to help countries work together to limit dangerous changes in the world's climate. It focuses on reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which are gases that trap heat and cause the Earth to warm up. The Convention was signed in 1992 by many countries at a big meeting called the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and it officially started in 1994.

The main goal of the UNFCCC is to keep the increase in global temperatures from getting too high. This helps protect ecosystems, keep food production safe, and support economic development in a way that doesn't harm the planet. Today, the UNFCCC's most important work is supporting the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the world's temperature rise to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above levels before the Industrial Revolution. The UNFCCC brings countries together every year to discuss how to meet these goals and review progress.

By 2022, almost every country in the world had joined the UNFCCC, making it a very important part of global efforts to fight climate change. Its main decision-making meeting, called the Conference of the Parties or COP, happens once a year. The first big review of progress under the Paris Agreement took place at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in 2023. The Convention also helps countries share responsibility, with richer nations taking a leading role because they have historically produced more greenhouse gases.

Development

The IPCC made its First Assessment Report in 1990. This report gave a broad overview of what scientists knew about climate change and showed that human activity was increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which was warming the Earth. This report helped create the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The UNFCCC was created during meetings in New York in April and May 1992. It was signed by 154 nations on June 12, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro at the Earth Summit. The convention asked countries to work together to reduce greenhouse gases to protect the Earth's climate. Since 1995, countries have met every year to check on their progress.

The main goal of the UNFCCC is to stop human-caused changes to the climate that could be dangerous. This means keeping the amount of greenhouse gases in the air at levels that let nature, food production, and economies continue safely.

The UNFCCC also focuses on helping everyone understand and take part in solving climate problems. This includes education, training, sharing information, and working together internationally. These efforts are important for everyone to help with climate change.

Key agreements and protocols

Kyoto Protocol

Paris Agreement

Further commitments

Besides the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to more actions at UNFCCC meetings. These include the Bali Action Plan in 2007, the Copenhagen Accord in 2009, the Cancún agreements in 2010, and the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action in 2012.

The Bali Action Plan asked developed countries to set clear goals to lower emissions. Developing countries agreed to take steps that help the environment and their growth, with support from technology and money.

The Copenhagen Accord aimed to keep global warming below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F). Many countries agreed to this idea.

In 2021, the UNFCCC started the "UN Race-to-Zero Emissions Breakthroughs" to change 20 parts of the economy to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions. At least 20% of each part should start taking action, with 10 parts changing before COP 26 in Glasgow.

Developing countries reminded everyone that their main goals are growth and ending poverty. They also said that lowering emissions is important for their future.

Green Climate Fund

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 talks about the Green Climate Fund. Developed countries promised to help developing countries with money for climate actions. The goal was to collect $100 billion each year by 2020 to support these efforts.

Secretariat and offices

"UNFCCC" is also the name of a group that helps run an important agreement about protecting our planet. This group has offices on the UN Campus in Bonn, Germany. Before, offices were in Haus Carstanjen and in a building called Langer Eugen.

This group was created under a rule called Article 8. It works with a team called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to help countries agree on plans. Since the agreement was signed, meetings called Conferences of the Parties (COPs) have talked about how to reach the agreement's goals.

The group is led by a leader called the Executive Secretary. From 2010 to 2016, the leader was Christiana Figueres. Then, Patricia Espinosa took over in May 2016 and worked until July 2022. After that, Ibrahim Thiaw helped temporarily. In August 2022, António Guterres chose Simon Stiell, a former climate minister from Grenada, to be the new leader.

Processes

Relationship with IPCC reports

The reports from the IPCC are very important for the yearly climate talks held by the UNFCCC. For example, the UNFCCC asked the IPCC to make a report about global warming of 1.5 °C. The IPCC made the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C in 2018. This report showed that it is possible to keep warming below 1.5 °C this century, but it would need big cuts in emissions and fast changes in many parts of our lives. The report also showed that warming up to 2 °C would cause much bigger problems than 1.5 °C. This report had a big effect on people and the news, and it made the 1.5 °C goal very important for people working on climate change.

Conferences of the Parties (CoP)

Main article: United Nations Climate Change conference

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is a yearly meeting held as part of the UNFCCC. These meetings, called Conferences of the Parties (COP), let countries talk about how they are working on climate change. Starting in the mid-1990s, these meetings also talked about making rules for developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2005, these meetings also included talks about the Kyoto Protocol, and since 2016, they have included talks about the Paris Agreement.

The first meeting (COP1) was in Berlin in 1995. The third meeting (COP3) was in Kyoto and led to the Kyoto Protocol, which was changed later at the 2012 Doha Conference (COP18). The COP21 meeting was in Paris in 2015 and led to the Paris Agreement. COP28 was in the United Arab Emirates in 2023 and included the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement. Azerbaijan hosted COP29 in 2024. COP30 was hosted in Brazil.

Subsidiary bodies

A subsidiary body is a group that helps the Conference of the Parties. These groups include:

• Permanent groups:
  • The Subsidiary Body of Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) gives advice on science and technology to help with the convention. It connects information from experts, like the IPCC, to the COP, which makes policies.
  • The Subsidiary Body of Implementation (SBI) helps the COP check how well the convention is being used and makes suggestions about policies and how to put them into action.
• Temporary groups:
  • Ad hoc Group on Article 13 (AG13), worked from 1995 to 1998;
  • Ad hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM), worked from 1995 to 1997;
  • Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP), started in 2005 to think about more promises from industrialized countries under the Kyoto Protocol for after 2012; it finished its work in 2012;
  • Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA), started in Bali in 2007 to talk about a stronger international deal on climate change;
  • Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), started at COP 17 in Durban in 2011 "to make a new agreement under the Convention that all Parties would follow." It finished its work in Paris on 5 December 2015.

National communication

A "National Communication" is a report that countries that have agreed to the UNFCCC send in. Developed countries need to send these reports every four years, and developing countries should also send them. Some of the countries that need the most help have not sent these reports in the past 5 to 15 years because they need more support.

These reports are often many pages long and talk about what a country is doing to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, as well as how the country might be affected by climate change. The reports are made using rules that all the Parties to the UNFCCC agreed on. The (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that are part of the Paris Agreement are shorter but also follow rules and are checked by experts.

Nationally Determined Contributions

Main article: Nationally Determined Contributions

In 2013, at the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties in Warsaw, the UNFCCC made a way for countries to send in plans called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) before the big meeting in Paris in 2015. Countries could decide for themselves what to include in these plans, so they could make them fit their own needs.

After the meeting in Paris, these INDCs became Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) when each country agreed to the Paris Agreement, unless they sent in a new NDC at the same time. The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) in Marrakesh in 2016 focused on putting these Nationally Determined Contributions into action, after the Paris Agreement started on 4 November 2016.

Membership and participation

Main article: List of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

As of 2022, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) includes 198 countries and groups. This includes all countries that are members of the United Nations, plus some smaller groups like the European Union.

Countries that join the UNFCCC have different roles and responsibilities. Some are grouped as developed countries, while others are developing countries. This helps decide how much help each country might need to address climate change and reduce gases that warm the planet.

The United States announced it would leave the agreement in January 2026, making it the only country to do so.

Analysis

Further information: Climate change mitigation and Effects of climate change

The main goal of the Framework Convention is to stop the buildup of greenhouse gases in the air at a level that avoids harmful human effects on the climate. To do this, countries need to reduce the amount of these gases they put into the air.

There are different ideas about how much climate change is too much. Some warming already happening can affect people and nature. More warming makes these problems worse. Decisions about climate change also need to think about costs, like how hard it is to cut down on these gases.

When deciding what to do, some rules say that even if we are not totally sure about the risks, we should still act to protect against serious problems. This idea is part of the convention’s rules.

Some people worry that climate rules might make it harder for countries to trade with each other.

Reception

Criticism of processes

Some people feel that the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol have not done enough to lower greenhouse gases in the air. Because the UNFCCC includes over 190 countries, and decisions must be made by everyone agreeing, a few countries can stop progress.

Since 1992, there have not been strong agreements to reduce greenhouse gases. This led the United States to not fully support the Kyoto Protocol, partly because it did not include developing countries, which now produce a lot of CO₂. However, this did not consider the historical role of countries in causing climate change since industrialization, which is a difficult topic in talks. Canada also left the Kyoto Protocol in 2011 to avoid paying penalties.

Some countries have looked for other ways to fight climate change, like creating the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants. This group works on pollutants such as methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which add to global warming but may be easier to manage.

In 2010, Japan said it would not join a second term of the Kyoto Protocol because it would face restrictions that its competitors like China, India, and Indonesia did not. New Zealand’s Prime Minister also suggested they might not join in 2012. At the 2012 conference, some countries like Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan said they might leave the treaty.

The UNFCCC also struggled to share clean technologies, like renewable energy, with developing countries. Before the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, National Geographic magazine noted that since 1992, despite many meetings, not much progress was made in lowering carbon emissions.

Awards

In 2016, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change received a special award called the "Prince or Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation." This award was given by the Princess of Asturias Awards to recognize the important work being done to help the world work together on climate issues.

Meetings of the Parties

A Conference of the Parties (COP) has been held every year since 1995, except for a few years. These meetings help countries work together to protect the environment and reduce harmful gases in the air.