10 historic stops in the fight against climate change

ArabiaWeather - Before the climate talks to be held by the United Nations in Dubai - UAE, starting November 30, here are the 10 most prominent historical steps in combating climate change.

1988 - Alarm bells

After scientists warned of signs of rising global surface temperatures, the United Nations in 1988 established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to delve into the issue.

Two years later, the committee concluded that greenhouse gases from human activity were on the rise and could worsen global warming.

In a series of studies, evidence accumulated that human activities, such as massive combustion of coal, oil and gas, logging of rainforests, and destructive agricultural practices, were causing the Earth's surface to warm, a precursor to climate system disruption.

1992 - Earth Summit

In 1992, the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was held, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Since 1995, meetings of the Conferences of the Parties, or COPs, have been held to pursue this elusive goal.

1997 - Kyoto Protocol

In 1997, countries agreed in Kyoto, Japan, to a 2008-2012 timeframe for industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels. Developing countries, including China, India and Brazil, were not required to To adopt binding goals.

But in 2001, the United States, then the world's largest carbon emitter, refused to ratify the protocol, which entered into force in 2005.

2007 - Nobel Prize

In 2007, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that there was "indisputable" evidence that global temperatures were rising, and that extreme weather events were likely to increase.

2009 - Copenhagen collapse

Participants at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in 2009 failed to reach an agreement for the period after 2012.

Several major emitters, including China and the United States, have announced a goal of limiting global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but they have not been clear about how to achieve this goal.

2015 - Breakthrough in Paris

In December, A

In December 2015, almost every country on Earth committed to limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. A more ambitious target of a maximum temperature increase of 1.5°C has also been adopted as a preferred target.

2018 - Greta Thunberg

In 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg began skipping school on Fridays to sit outside the Swedish Parliament, demanding more serious action to combat climate change.

Although she ended her Friday protests in 2023 after her graduation, her protest inspired students around the world to skip classes every Friday in protest as more efforts were needed from world leaders in this regard.

2022 - Recording emissions

In 2022, the International Energy Agency reported that global carbon dioxide emissions will reach an annual record. But at that year's COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, participants failed to agree on more ambitious emissions cuts.

2022 - Convention on Biological Diversity

An agreement on biodiversity was reached in Montreal in December 2022, calling for 30% of the planet's land and oceans to be designated as protected areas by 2030, and to end the extinction of species threatened by human activities.

2023 - New warning

The United Nations has warned that despite efforts to date, the world will experience its first full year at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the early 2030s.

According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Observatory, global temperatures in the summer of 2023 were the hottest ever recorded.

Source: jordantimes