United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the main international treaty on global warming. It was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and entered into force in 1994, and nearly all countries of the world are now parties to it. The convention set the goal of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. It recognised that countries have common but differentiated responsibilities, with industrialised nations expected to take the lead. It created no binding limits itself, but it provided the framework for later agreements, the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and the Paris Agreement of 2015, and for the annual climate conferences.

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