International action


Enjoying near universal membership, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aims to stabilise human-related greenhouse gas emissions at a level that will prevent dangerous climate change by: 

  • providing precise and regularly updated inventories of greenhouse gas emissions

  • taking climate change into account in matters such as agriculture, industry, energy, natural resources, and coastal activities

  • developing national programmes to slow climate change

For more information on the work of the UNFCCC, visit:

The Kyoto Protocol

The first addition to the treaty was The Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The protocol strengthens the convention's objective by setting legally binding targets and timetables for cutting the greenhouse gas emissions of industrialized countries. These targets cover emissions of Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

Industrialized countries must put in place domestic policies and measures. The protocol provides an indicative list of policies and measures that might help mitigate climate change and promote sustainable development.

The protocol also introduces three innovative but controversial 'flexibility mechanisms', which are intended to lower the overall costs of achieving emissions targets:

  • Emissions trading
    Under the Protocol, countries may buy and sell greenhouse-gas emissions 'units' and 'credits'.

  • Clean Development Mechanism
    This is a system for financing emission-reduction or emission-avoidance projects in developing nations.

  • Joint Implementation
    Industrialized countries are granted 'emissions reduction units' for financing projects in other developed countries – a system intended to increase efficiency and reduce emissions from the 'transition economies' of central and eastern Europe.

For more information about the Kyoto Protocol, visit:

European Climate Change Programme (ECCP)

The European Commission's main instrument for developing European Union climate policy, the second phase of the ECCP consists of several working groups:

The European Commission (EC) has also produced a paper that contributes to international discussions on a future global agreement to combat climate change post 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's emission targets expire:

To find out more about the European Climate Change Programme, visit: