(Voosen 2019). Though a different kind of climate worry took hold in the early 1970s, somewhat cooling of earth between 1940 – 1970 due to the post‐war boom of aerosol pollutants which reflected sunlight away from the planet, WMO started to express concern on human‐induced CO2 emission, global warming, and potential consequences around the same time (i.e. early 1970s). During the 1980s scientific concerns about global warming grew, global temperature increased sharply, and it started to get political attention. As a result, the WMO and UNEP established IPCC under the UN in 1988 to investigate and report on scientific evidence on climate change, potential economic and political impacts, and suggest possible international responses to climate change. Since then, IPCC has been central to the subsequent debates and processes around the development of climate change policies. Since the 1990s, scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded further. Research since the 1990s are summarized in the form of Assessment Reports published in regular interval by IPCC. After the first assessment report (FAR) published in 1990, IPCC has already released five such assessment reports and the sixth assessment report (AR6) is underway. The IPCC FAR in 1990 fed into the drafting of the UNFCCC in 1991, which was later signed by 166 nations at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio in 1992 and came into force in 1994.
Table 1.3 Selected international negotiations on climate change in light of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration.
Source: Updated from Shivakoti BR, and Shrestha S (2014).
| Year | CO2 (ppm)* | Major development and outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 400.83 | Paris Climate Agreement (PCA) |
| 2013 | 396.66 | On May 10, 2013, NOAA and Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) for the first time detected daily CO2 average concertation temporarily reaching 400 ppm First volume of IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) released |
| 2012 | 393.87 | COP18 sets out a timeline to adopt a universal climate agreement by 2015, to come into effect in 2020 |
| 2011 | 391.74 | The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action at COP17: governments clearly recognized the need to draw up the blueprint for a fresh universal, legal agreements to deal with climate change beyond 2020 |
| 2010 | 389.84 | Cancun Agreements, drafted and largely accepted by the COP (COP16) – comprehensive measures for mitigation, adaptation, financing, technology transfer and capacity building |
| 2009 | 387.35 | Attended by close to 115 world leaders at the high‐level segment, Copenhagen Accord drafted at COP15 recognizes scientific view on limiting warming below 2°C; countries later submitted emission reduction pledges or mitigation action pledges, all non‐binding developed countries agreed to support a goal of mobilizing US$100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries |
| 2007 | 383.93 | IPCC fourth assessment report (AR4) released; IPCC awarded 2007 Nobel Peace Prize at the end of the year. At COP13, Parties agreed on the Bail Road Map, which charted the way towards a post‐Kyoto Protocol (KP) outcome. |
| 2006 | 381.88 | Stern Review on the Economics of climate change published – emphasis on early action in mitigation and adaptation; benefits of action outweigh cost of inaction |
| 2005 | 379.95 | Entry into force of the KP |
| 2001 | 371.30 | IPCC Third Assessment Report (AR3) released, Marrakesh Accords adopted at COP7 detailing rules for implementation of the KP |
| 1997 | 363.73 | KP adopted at Conference of Parties 3 (COP3) meeting held in Kyoto – a binding agreement among nations to curb GHG emission through a number of market and non‐market‐based mechanisms |
| 1995 | 360.80 | IPCC Second Assessment Report (SER) released; The first Conference of the Parties (COP1) in Berlin held |
| 1994 | 358.69 | UNFCCC enters into force |
| 1992 | 356.73 | UNFCCC treaty agreed at Rio Earth Summit |
| 1990 | 354.39 | IPCC’s First Assessment Report (FAR) released. IPCC and 2nd World Climate Conference (WCC) call for a global climate change treaty |
| 1988 | 351.51 | IPCC established |
| 1979 | 336.91 | The first WCC held; World Climate Research Program launched |
| 1967 | 323.04 | International Global Atmospheric Research Program established |
| 1958 | 315.71# | High accuracy measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentration initiated by Charles David Keeling at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii |
| 1800‐1870 | 290 (around) # | Beginning of Industrial Revolution |
* Average annual atmospheric CO 2 concentration (ppm) observed at Mauna Loa Observatory, Accessed on 24th April, 2020 from: https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/index.php?parameter_name=Carbon%2BDioxide&site=MLO
# Values are taken from Shivakoti and Shrestha ( 2014 ).
The government leaders continued discussion on potential ways to curb the GHG emissions to prevent dire consequences of climate change and finally reached the first global agreement to reduce GHG emissions in 1997, which is popularly known as the “Kyoto Protocol”. Unfortunately, USA withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 citing the concerns that the deal would hurt the US economy. IPCC published its third assessment report (TAR) in the same year saying that global warming is “very likely” with highly damaging future impacts. Al Gore, the former vice president of USA, put political weight on the climate change through a film titled “An Inconvenient Truth”, and Mr. Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly shared with IPCC, for his work on climate change. By 2007, 2008, and 2009 the existence and dangers of climate change were increasingly recognized with growing scientific evidence