Maciej Sadowski

Abstract

This paper discusses problems concerning the negotiation process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Kyoto Protocol, at international level. In spite of a strong lobby trying to delay the decisions obliging countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions (mostly from fossil fuels), over 150 countries signed the UNFCCC in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, then ratified this Convention aiming at the stabilisa-tion of greenhouse gas emissions at the 1990 level by 2000 and next negotiated the Kyoto Protocol with new commitments regarding the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases in the period 2008-2012.

Keywords: global climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Kyoto Protocol, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Maciej Sadowski, Climate Protection Center, Institute of Environmental Protection Kolektorska 4, 01-692 Warszawa, Poland