International Cooperation To Prevent Climate Change
Climate change is a global challenge and requires a global solution. While the United States and other major industrialized nations are responsible for the vast majority of emissions, every country has a stake in preventing catastrophic climate change. That is why the international community agreed in 1992 on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and subsequently negotiated the Kyoto Protocol to that treaty.The UNFCCC sets forth the key goals and principles for international cooperation on climate change – most notably the central goal of preventing “dangerous human interference in the Earth's climate system”; and the central principle that nations have “common but differentiated responsibilities,” for preventing catastrophic climate change. These ideas propelled negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol, which set goals through 2012 by which industrialized countries would meet concrete emissions reduction targets. Under President William J. Clinton, the United States signed but did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol; President George W. Bush withdrew U.S. signature from the agreement in 2001.
The parties to the UNFCCC, including the United States, are engaged now in active negotiations of a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, to guide emissions reduction efforts after 2012. It is hoped that a framework for agreement will be agreed in December 2009, during negotiations that will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Additional Information
- A Guide to the Latest United Nations Negotiations - Pew Environment Group
- Framework for a Post-2012: Agreement on Climate Change - Global Leadership for Climate Action
- Towards a New International Climate Change Agreement - Brookings Global Economy and Development