What is the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty established in 1992 in Rio at the UN conference on environment and development. The goal of the UNFCCC is the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” (UN 1992). Within the framework of the UNFCCC, signatory states meet annually (since 1995) for the so called conference of parties (COP), where governments discuss developments in climate change and decide on strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The first (and to date only) legally binding treaty enacted in this context is the Kyoto Protocol, signed 1997 in Japan. United Nations (1992): Framework convention on climate change. New York. United Nations (1998): Kyoto Protocol to the framework convention on climate change. New York.