This Climate Change timeline will inform you about the conferences and agreements signed against Climate Change and also a resume of the extreme weather events of the last decade
Creation of the Club of Rome. The members are notable scientists, economists, businessmen and businesswomen, high level civil servants and former heads of state from around the world, with the mission of promoting understanding of the global challenges facing humanity and to propose solutions through scientific analysis, communication and advocacy.
This environmental movement starts i n the US Day, and later was spread to all the world. Its aims are to concern about global degradation; make public consciousness about the state of the planet and support environmental protection. Nowadays it is celebrated in 193 countries.
It is the UN's first Conference on international environmental issues, and marks a turning point in the development of international environmental politics.
The Conference brings together 350 scientists that call on Governments to “foresee and prevent potential man-made changes in climate that might be averse to the well-being of humanity” These scientific explore how climate change might affect human activities and endorsed plans to establish a World Climate Programme (WCP) under the joint responsibility of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was adopted first by 20 states, nowadays 197. The protocol restricts the use of chemical substances that can damage the ozone layer.
NASA scientist James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate that man-made global warming has begun. He said: "global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and the observed warming." Hansen's testimony is very widely reported in popular and business media.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with the aim of assessing the science related to climate change. It is created to provide political leaders with scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states and thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes its first assessment report, observing that unrestricted fossil fuel use would produce a “rate of increase of global mean temperature during the next century of about .3 degrees Celsius per decade; this is greater than seen over the past 150,000 years.” This report is the result of the work of several hundred scientists from 25 countries. The Executive Summary begins with the statement: “We are certain that:… emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrous oxide These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect, resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth's surface The main greenhouse gas, water vapour, will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it.”
The Convention on Climate Change is adopted at the UN. This is the key international treaty to reduce global warming and help cope with the consequences of climate change. For the first time binding gas emissions reduction targets are set for industrialised countries.
The First United Nations Conference on Environment and Development draws 178 countries and 140 heads of state, and results in a signed commitment of 154 nations to work toward preventing “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” US blocks the inclusion of binding targets. UNFCC aims to “achieve stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a low enough level to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, enters into force. Countries that sign the treaty are known as 'Parties'. With 196 Parties, the UNFCCC has near-universal membership. Parties meet annually at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to negotiate multilateral responses to climate change.
Germany presides the First Conference of the Parties (COP 1). The Conference of the Parties is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, to assess progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Second Assessment Report concludes that despite various uncertainties, “the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate” Climate forecasts include: “A general warming is expected to lead to an increase in the occurrence of extremely hot days and a decrease in the occurrence of extremely cold days. Warmer temperatures will lead to a more vigorous hydrological cycle; this translates into prospects for more severe droughts and/or floods in some places and less severe droughts and/or floods in other places. Several models indicate an increase in precipitation intensity, suggesting a possibility for more extreme rainfall events. Knowledge is currently insufficient to say whether there will be any changes in the occurrence or geographical distribution of severe storms, e.g., tropical cyclones
The third Conference of the Parties achieves an historical milestone with adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, the world's first greenhouse gas emissions reduction treaty. 164 countries agree with the protocol. The legally binding treaty mandates developed countries to reduce emissions by industrialised countries an average of 5% below 1990 levels by 2008-12. The protocol does not compel developing countries, including high carbon emitters China and India, to take action..
EU environment ministers agree how to share out the missions’ target to achieve an overall reduction of 8%. Burden sharing - The sharing out of emissions allowances among the 15 Member States under the EU 'bubble.' An agreement on burden sharing was reached in June 1998 and will be made legally binding as part of the EU's instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
The report asserts that new and stronger evidence shows “most of the observed warming over the last 50 years ” to human activities and observes that “the globally averaged surface temperature is projected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius over the period 1990 to 2100
President George W. Bush removes the US from the Kyoto process, arguing that it puts more of the burden for reducing emissions on industrialised nations instead of developing ones and that it will damage the US economy.
The European Union Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is a cornerstone in the fight against climate change and it is a major pillar of EU energy policy. It is the first international trading system for CO2 emissions in the world The aim of the EU ETS is to help EU Member States achieve compliance with their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol comes into force with legally binding emissions targets for developed countries This treaty goes into effect in 2005, signed by 37 major industrial nations (except US) representing at least 55€ of worldwide CO2 emissions, nations, with a goal of reducing emissions to 5% below 1990 levels by 2012
There is increased pressure to reach a consensus in Mexico after the failure in Copenhagen and NASA’s announcement that 2000–2009 was the warmest decade ever recorded. In the Cancun Agreements, countries commit for the first time to keep global temperature increases below 2°C. 80 countries, including China, India, and the United States, as well as the European Union, submit emissions reduction targets and actions. They also agree for the Green Climate Fund, a $100 billion fund to assist developing countries in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
In 2010, the global average surface temperatures have been at record high levels, in keeping with the recent warming trend that scientists say has very likely been caused in large part by human emissions of CO2. 2010 also featured many extreme events, from snowstorms in NorthEast America to heat and deadly flooding in Pakistan. Source: NOAA
Canada repudiates the Kyoto Protocol after signing on to it. Its ministers complain that the two largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States, are not a part of the agreement. Canada's Conservative government is reluctant to hurt Canada's booming oil sands sector, the country's fastest growing source of greenhouse gases.
Scientists say rising sea levels and global warming increased likelihood of 2012 extreme weather, including Hurricane Sandy NOAA
The report concludes that “It is extremely likely [95-100%] that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together” The report finds that “Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850. In the Northern Hemisphere, 1983–2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years”. For the first time, the world’s leading climate scientists officially called for an absolute upper limit on greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming.
The European Council endorsed a binding EU target of an at least 40% domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. all Member States will participate in this effort, balancing considerations of fairness and solidarity An EU target of at least 27% is set for the share of renewable energy consumed in the EU in 2030. This target will be binding at EU level
In 2014, human activities, such as greenhouse gas emissions and land use, influenced specific extreme weather and climate events including tropical cyclones in the central Pacific, heavy rainfall in Europe, drought in East Africa, and heat waves in Australia, Asia, and South America. Antarctica also was very affected this year. Source: NOAA
A historical Paris Agreement is adopted. 196 nations agree to what experts call the most significant global climate agreement in history to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low-carbon, resilient and sustainable future. The Agreement brings all nations ( developed and developing ) into a common cause, to set emissions reduction goals. However, countries can choose their own targets The mission of the Paris Agreement, which enters into force in November 2016, is to keep global temperature rise below 2°C and pursue efforts to keep it below 1.5°C. It is ratified by 111 countries (80% of total greenhouse gas emissions) including US.
In 2015, human-caused climate change very likely increased the severity of heat waves that plagued India, Pakistan, Europe, East Africa, East Asia, and Australia in 2015 and helped make it the warmest year on record. The strongest evidence for a human influence was found for temperature-related events—the increased intensity of numerous heat waves, diminished snowpack in the Cascades, record-low Arctic sea ice extent in March, and the extraordinary extent and duration of Alaska wildfires. In each of these cases, the scientists found a unique contribution from climate change over and above that of the El Niño. Source: NOAA
In a historic vote Parliament gives its consent to the EU’s ratification of the Paris Agreement that can enter into force in November 2016.
Most of the extreme weather events of 2016 were found to have been caused by or exacerbated by human-induced climate change. In 2016, extreme weather left its sign, as the hottest year in recorded history, especially in Asia and the Arctic. Droughts grapped Brazil and southern Africa. The Great Barrier Reef suffered its worst event, killing large swaths of coral. Researches say that after analyzing 27 extreme weather events, human-caused climate change was a “significant driver” for 21 of them. Source: NOAA
President Trump announces that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. The formal process of withdrawal will likely take four years, and not be final until after the 2020 presidential election
Overall 2017 is the warmest non-El Niño year on record globally, and over the year there were plenty of extreme weather across the world. June 2017 was marked as “exceptional global warmth” that lasted since mid-2015, according to the latest analysis. Average surface air temperatures were the second hottest on record, after June 2016.In addition to high temperatures, extreme weather affected also many different parts of the world in June and early July. Source: The Conversation
A special Global Warming of 1.5C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the need to maintain the strongest commitment to the Paris Agreement's aims of limiting global warming to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, which include more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms.
The intense droughts in the western United States, intense heat waves on the Iberian peninsula and in northeast Asia, exceptional precipitation in the Mid-Atlantic states, and record-low sea ice in the Bering Sea were 2018 extreme weather events made more likely by human-caused climate change, according to new research published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Source BAMS
This Summit wants to boost ambition and to accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement. The Summit comes exactly one year before countries are set to enhance their national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. The leaders of the world’s top carbon-emitting countries, including the United States and China, do not attend. At the summit, Guterres asks countries to submit plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050
Organised by Chile and held in Madrid, the 197 Parties that make up the treaty seeked to move towards the implementation of the agreements that have been reached under the Convention. The Conference finishes with a lack of progress on major climate issues, despite a year of warning from scientist, record heat waves and worldwide protest demanding action. Participants are unable to finalize rules for a global carbon market, and they disagree over whether to compensate developing countries devastated by effects of climate change including rising sea levels and extreme weather.
In 2019, extreme weather including floods, storms, droughts and wildfires struck every inhabited continent, causing devastation and loss of life. Christian Aid, said the costs in human terms and insured losses were likely to have been underestimated. Experts said the extreme weather and record-breaking temperatures were clearly linked to human actions. Floods in Argentina and Uruguay in January this year forced 11,000 people from their homes. Cyclone Idai killed 1,300 people in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi in March, and Cyclone Fani struck India and Bangladesh in May and June. A stronger than usual monsoon killed 1,900 people in India. Richer countries were also badly affected, with Storm Eberhard hitting Europe in March and the typhoons Faxai and Hagibis battering Japan in September and October. Wildfires laid waste to farming areas in California and caused more than $25bn in damage, and Hurricane Dorian swept along the US east coast, killing 673 people. Hurricane Dorian caused at least $11bn in losses, and floods in the midwest and south of the US from March to June cost about $12.5bn. India’s losses from floods and Cyclone Fani alone came to more than $18bn (only insured losses). Typhoon Lekima in China was estimated to have cost at least $10bn, and floods in China June-August cost a similar amount. Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said: “If anything, 2019 saw even more profound extreme weather events around the world than last year, including wildfires from the Amazon to the Arctic, and devastating out-of-season simultaneous wildfires in California and Australia, winter heatwaves and devastating superstorms. “With each day now, we are seemingly reminded of the cost of climate inaction in the form of ever-threatening climate change-spiked weather extremes.” Source: The Guardian
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