Background History of Climate Change

1979: First World Climate Conference: Scientists reach an agreement that climate change is a major issue and call on governments to act to prevent it from happening.

1987: Warmest year on record: The 1980s turn out to be the warmest decade ever, with seven of the eight warmest years recorded.

1988-90: The United Nations takes action: The United Nations sets up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to analyze and report on scientific findings (Leggett 2007). The IPCC finds that the planet has warmed by 0.5°C and warns that only strong measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will prevent serious global warming.

2007: New IPCC reports published: The IPCC publishes new reports on predicted climate change, its impacts, and ways that the climate change problem can be reduced (IPCC 2007).