Climate change – scoping the issues

(a) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to assess the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of human induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for mitigation and adaptation. The IPCC does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters but it produces reports that aim to reflect a range of views, expertise and wide geographical coverage. The IPCC has three Working Groups and a Task Force:

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  Working Group I assesses the scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change.
  
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  Working Group II assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting to it.
  
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  Working Group III assesses options for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and otherwise mitigating climate change.
  

(b) The Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was established in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and entered into force on 16 February 2005.

The industrial nations comprise 15 percent of world population yet, they account for almost half of emissions of CO2.³⁶ Under the protocol’s terms, the industrialized countries have taken binding commitments to cut their emissions by a certain date (up to 2012) and by a certain percentage from their 1990 levels. The targets vary among the industrialized countries. It was agreed at Kyoto that the developing countries do not need to commit to cut their emissions because they have low per capita emission levels compared to developed countries, and therefore, they have the right to some “space” to increase their emissions as they develop their economies.³⁷

Some developed countries are now pressing for developing countries (or at least some of them) to also commit to emission reduction in the near future. Developing countries argue that the industrialized nations have themselves not yet lived up to their Kyoto commitments, and thus the poorer countries should not yet be asked to make binding commitments. Further, many industrialized countries have not reduced their emissions in line with their commitments, and in fact, their emissions have actually increased above their 1990 levels.³⁸