The Climate Convention

The Convention

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a legally binding international treaty. Initially signed by 153 states and the European Union at the Earth Summit in Rio in June 1992, the treaty came into force in March 1994. It has now been ratified by 122 governments.

Key Aims

  • to stabilize emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, and nitrous oxide) at a level which would prevent dangerous human­induced interference with the climate system

  • to slow down climate change to a level at which ecosystems can adapt naturally, food production is unthreatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner

Guiding Principles

  • developed countries must take the lead in combating climate change

  • it is vital to take account of the special needs of developing countries

  • cost­effective precautionary measures are essential

  • it will be necessary to adopt policies and measures that are appropriate for the specific conditions of each party

  • measures to combat climate change should not serve as a disguised restriction on international trade

General Commitments

  • to implement national and regional programmes to reduce climate change and make it easier to adapt to climate change

  • to cooperate to develop and transfer technologies that reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions in sectors such as energy, forestry, and waste management

  • to provide national inventories of emissions and removals (by carbon "sinks" such as forests)

  • to cooperate in preparing to adapt to climate change

  • to take climate change into account in social, economic, and environmental policies and actions

  • to take part in an open exchange of information on scientific, technical, socio­economic, and legal issues

  • to work together on education, training, and raising public awareness

  • to inform the Conference of the Parties about implementation of the convention

Reducing CO2 Emissions

The convention calls on industrialized countries to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000. It does not commit them to doing so.

Even to stabilize emissions at current levels, scientists calculate that it will be necessary to cut CO2 emissions by a massive 60 per cent. No country is making cuts on this scale.

Many institutions, including WWF, recommend altering the convention so it commits industrialized countries to cutting CO2 emissions by 20 per cent of their 1990 levels by 2005. This target is generally referred to as the Toronto Target because it was one of the outcomes of the World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere held in Toronto, Canada in 1988.

Nine OECD countries: (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand) and Slovakia have adopted Toronto­type targets at a national level. Austria and Denmark have adopted the Toronto figures. Belgium aims to cut CO2 emissions by 5 per cent by 2000.

Amending the Convention

Governments can alter the convention by adopting amendments and protocols at meetings of the Conference to the Parties. The first such meeting takes place 28 March ­ 7 April 1995 in Berlin. The secretariat is obliged to circulate proposals for amendments and protocols to all Parties six months before these meetings.

The AOSIS Protocol

In September 1994 the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) - 36 island nations, many of which are seriously threatened by climate change - proposed adding a protocol to the Climate Convention which would commit industrialized countries to the Toronto Target. Although widely regarded as a step forward, and commended by some of the more progressive countries, the proposal has met with considerable resistance - particularly from oil­producing countries.

October 1994


WWF continues to be known as World Wildlife Fund in Canada and the United States

Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature