In 1972 an environment forum was held in Stockholm; it was the first UN conference of its kind held to highlight the most burning issue at that time. A few years later, the time had come again. Climate change had now been placed on the international agenda and the first world climate conference was held in Geneva. At this conference, scientific evidence was presented on how human activities affect climate.

The climate change issue, or rather the climate threat as it was by then also known, continued to be discussed at international level over the following years. The Brundtland Commission presented its report in 1987. This report pointed out that the world could hardly manage the same kind of transformation in the countries of the South as the countries of the North had undergone. According to the report, this would put enormous strain on the environment.

In 1988 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to protect global climate for present and future generations. This recognised climate change as a problem that concerns the whole of mankind. In the same year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established. The Panel’s steering group, consisting of around thirty researchers, bases its conclusions and recommendations on international research.

The Earth Summit
The Earth Summit (also known as the Rio Summit) was held in 1992 in response to the Brundtland Commission’s proposal for a conference to be held twenty years after the Stockholm conference. The scientific findings regarding the impact of human activities on the environment, including how emissions have contributed to depleting the ozone layer, made their mark at the Rio Summit. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted at the Rio Summit. By 2005 it had been ratified by 188 countries and the European Commission. The parties to the Convention meet every year. The first meeting took place in Berlin in 1995. The third meeting was held in Kyoto, Japan, and it was here, in 1997, that a protocol requiring a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was adopted.