Confronting Economic and Social Realities, 1980–1999 193
DOCUMENT 145: United Nations Convention (1992)
and Protocol (1997) on Climate ChangeBy the mid-1980s, many scientists suspected that heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide, emitted during
the burning of fossil fuels, and methane were not only causing acid rain and thinning the ozone layer, but were
also rendering a change in the earth’s climate [see Document 137]. They proposed that just as the windows of
a greenhouse allow heat from the sun to pass through them and then hold that heat inside, thereby raising the
interior temperature, so too do heat-trapping gases permit some of the sun’s radiant energy to penetrate the
atmosphere all the way to the earth’s surface, and then prevent the resulting heat from escaping the earth’s atmo-
sphere, thereby causing a warming of the earth.
In order to evaluate the scientific basis of this theory, consider the potential impact of global warming, and
examine possible policy responses to climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
an international panel of scientists, government representatives, and policymakers working in three groups,
was established in 1988. The 1990 report of the IPCC’s scientific group^13 concluded that the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere was increasing and that this might be contributing to a change in
the earth’s climate.
Bill McKibben, whose 1989 book The End of Nature was the first popular book on climate change, was
among the cadres of environmentalists and scientists who worried that as a result of human activity “the
Antarctic ice sheet could fail more quickly than previously believed” and that we are headed for disaster
unless we act immediately to stop the warming trend,^14 even if there was as yet no absolute proof that global
warming was occurring or that greenhouse gases caused the apparent warming trend. Indeed, some people
still insist that higher temperatures recorded around the world in recent years merely reflect normal long-term
fluctuations in the global climate. However, by the 1990s most scientists and environmentalists as well as many
policymakers felt that the nations of the world would be derelict if they did not take action to forestall a highly
probable imminent catastrophe.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted in May 1992, was the international
community’s response to these concerns. Its goal was to address all the greenhouse gas issues not covered
by the Montreal Protocol [Document 135]. The details of how the Climate Change Convention was to be
implemented were set forth in the Kyoto Protocol. This historic agreement imposed legally binding limits on
the production by developed countries of man-made greenhouse gases. Although the United States was one of
the first countries to sign the Climate Change Convention, it was one of the last to sign the Kyoto Protocol,
and because of strong opposition by industry [see Document 149] the U.S. Senate never ratified the agreement.A. United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
The parties to this Convention,
Acknowledging that change in the Earth’s
climate and its adverse effects are a common
concern of humankind,
Concerned that human activities have been
substantially increasing the atmospheric concen-
trations of greenhouse gases, that these increases
enhance the natural greenhouse effect, and
that this will result on average in an additional
warming of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere
and may adversely affect natural ecosystems and
humankind,
Noting that the largest share of historical and
current global emissions of greenhouse gases has
originated in developed countries, that per capita
emissions in developing countries are still rela-
tively low and that the share of global emissions
originating in developing countries will grow to
meet their social and development needs,
Aware of the role and importance in terres-
trial and marine ecosystems of sinks and reser-
voirs of greenhouse gases,