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The two UN institutions that deal most directly with climate change are
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The first
provides scientific and technical advice to policy makers, and the
second develops policy mechanisms to deal with climate change.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). At the time it was recognised that climate change was a serious issue, and that world leaders would need unbiased scientific advice - independent of national interests and corporate influence.
The role of the IPCC is to advise policy makers about the current state of knowledge and provide reliable information pertaining to climate change. It does not conduct any scientific research itself, but instead reviews the thousands of papers on climate change published in the peer reviewed literature every year and summarises the ‘state of knowledge’ on climate change in Assessment Reports which are published every five years or so. About 1,000 experts from all over the world were involved in drafting the most recent, the Third Assessment Report (2001), and about 2,500 were involved in its review. The Fourth Assessment Report, well under way now, is due to be published in 2007. The IPCC also publishes a variety of other reports on request of governments, intergovernmental organisations or international treaties.
The IPCC is broken down into three working groups. The first working group "assesses the scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change". That is, it reports on what we know about climate change - if it is happening, why it is happening and how fast it is happening. The second working group " assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting to it". That is, it looks at what degree climate change will impact people and the environment, and what changes might reduce its impacts. The third working group "assesses options for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and otherwise mitigating climate change." That is, it examines ways we can stop human caused climate change, or at least slow it down.
Greenpeace relies heavily on IPCC reports as the basis for its international climate campaign.
See the Scientific Consensus page for a brief overview of the IPCC's latest conclusions.
Read in more detail about the IPCC's most recent assessment.
Visit the IPCC's own website for the full text of the Third Assessment Report.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The UNFCCC was agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, and has since been ratified by 189 countries. Its ultimate objective:
"[The] stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner."
The Convention then goes on to say:
“The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse affects thereof.”
(Full text of the Convention)
The UNFCCC is, as its name implies, a ‘framework’ convention, and needs subsidiary legal instruments (e.g. protocols) to effect its goals. It has a non-binding target, which calls for industrialised countries to bring their emissions back to 1990 levels by 2000. However, it was obviously by 1995 that these voluntary targets were inadequate. Realizing the need for another approach, in 1995 the Parties to the Convention established a process to negotiate a protocol with binding targets and timetables “as a matter of urgency”. The result was the Kyoto Protocol, which was agreed in December of 1997 and finally entered into force on February 16, 2005.
The annual meetings of the Convention are called Conferences of the Parties (COPs). These meetings continue, and are attended by government officials, industry lobbyists, Greenpeace and many other groups. Most of the Parties are genuinely seeking a way forward, looking even beyond Kyoto, but there are always those with huge vested interests in the continuation of the fossil fuel industry - such as representatives of the Bush administration and the OPEC countries – whose main goal is to cripple the convention and generally prevent any true progress on the issue.
You can read first hand accounts from these meetings, along with Greenpeace position papers and other relevant documents on our International Negotiations page.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). At the time it was recognised that climate change was a serious issue, and that world leaders would need unbiased scientific advice - independent of national interests and corporate influence.
The role of the IPCC is to advise policy makers about the current state of knowledge and provide reliable information pertaining to climate change. It does not conduct any scientific research itself, but instead reviews the thousands of papers on climate change published in the peer reviewed literature every year and summarises the ‘state of knowledge’ on climate change in Assessment Reports which are published every five years or so. About 1,000 experts from all over the world were involved in drafting the most recent, the Third Assessment Report (2001), and about 2,500 were involved in its review. The Fourth Assessment Report, well under way now, is due to be published in 2007. The IPCC also publishes a variety of other reports on request of governments, intergovernmental organisations or international treaties.
The IPCC is broken down into three working groups. The first working group "assesses the scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change". That is, it reports on what we know about climate change - if it is happening, why it is happening and how fast it is happening. The second working group " assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting to it". That is, it looks at what degree climate change will impact people and the environment, and what changes might reduce its impacts. The third working group "assesses options for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and otherwise mitigating climate change." That is, it examines ways we can stop human caused climate change, or at least slow it down.
Greenpeace relies heavily on IPCC reports as the basis for its international climate campaign.
See the Scientific Consensus page for a brief overview of the IPCC's latest conclusions.
Read in more detail about the IPCC's most recent assessment.
Visit the IPCC's own website for the full text of the Third Assessment Report.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The UNFCCC was agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, and has since been ratified by 189 countries. Its ultimate objective:
"[The] stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner."
The Convention then goes on to say:
“The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse affects thereof.”
(Full text of the Convention)
The UNFCCC is, as its name implies, a ‘framework’ convention, and needs subsidiary legal instruments (e.g. protocols) to effect its goals. It has a non-binding target, which calls for industrialised countries to bring their emissions back to 1990 levels by 2000. However, it was obviously by 1995 that these voluntary targets were inadequate. Realizing the need for another approach, in 1995 the Parties to the Convention established a process to negotiate a protocol with binding targets and timetables “as a matter of urgency”. The result was the Kyoto Protocol, which was agreed in December of 1997 and finally entered into force on February 16, 2005.
The annual meetings of the Convention are called Conferences of the Parties (COPs). These meetings continue, and are attended by government officials, industry lobbyists, Greenpeace and many other groups. Most of the Parties are genuinely seeking a way forward, looking even beyond Kyoto, but there are always those with huge vested interests in the continuation of the fossil fuel industry - such as representatives of the Bush administration and the OPEC countries – whose main goal is to cripple the convention and generally prevent any true progress on the issue.
You can read first hand accounts from these meetings, along with Greenpeace position papers and other relevant documents on our International Negotiations page.
