United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The UNFCCC is an international treaty negotiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth Summit, which was held in Rio in June 1992.

The treaty's objective was to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration levels that would prevent dangerous climate change. A UN Secretariat was subsequently established to administer the work of the convention.

The original treaty set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions for nations and contained no enforcement provisions. But it did call for updates, called protocols, which would set mandatory limits.

The primary update is the Kyoto Protocol, negotiated in 1997, the first international agreement to set binding emission reduction targets.

Since Kyoto, the UNFCCC has continued to meet, in an effort to reach further agreement on binding targets in two key areas:

• reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,
• reductions in emissions from land use, specifically reductions in deforestation (conversion of forests for uses such as agriculture, logging, and housing) and increases in afforestation (establishment of forests on land that is not currently a forest or has not been one for a long time).

The targets at the heart of the UNFCCC are typically focused on dates in the first half of the 21st century, for example, 2020 or 2030 or 2050.

A key feature of the process is the division of the countries of the world into various groupings. For more on these, see UNFCCC country groupings.

Although the UNFCCC holds quarterly gatherings, major annual meetings are the centerpiece of the process.

The 2008 meeting was held in Poznan, Poland.

The 2009 meeting is scheduled for December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

For more on the UNFCCC, see the Essential Background page on its site.