Global

As climate change is a global problem it must be addressed at a global level. This is being done primarily through the United Nations Organisation who helped establish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and who drafted a Convention and Protocol to address the issue. If we do not make significant changes now in our attitude towards climate change, the consequences will be devastating.

Global and national treaties to tackle climate change have been ratified over the last two decades. In 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was created, and the Kyoto Protocol followed in 1997. During the second Kyoto Protocol commitment period, which runs from 2013 to 2020, Parties committed to reduce GHG emissions by at least 18 percent below 1990 levels.

In addition to the above, the European Commission launched the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) in 2000. This, in turn, led to the adoption of many new policies and measures including the pioneering EU Emissions Trading System. This system is pivotal in reducing the costs associated with emissions reductions and introduced a number of flexible mechanisms to achieve this.