UN climate talks wrap with big promises. Have countries lived up to them?
Global News
Climate experts say the pledges are just a fraction of the billions of dollars needed, as climate-driven weather extremes are increasing as temperatures rise.
When United Nations climate talks wrap up at some point this week in Dubai, big promises will likely be made about how the world is going to combat climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.
Negotiators are debating how fast fossil fuels should be reduced and how a major transition to green energy would be paid for, raising the possibility of a historic agreement.
Previous summits have ended with funds established to help developing countries transition to green energies, pledges to slash pollution and promises to keep people most vulnerable at the center of policy discussions.
But have countries stuck to their word?
Ahead of whatever decisions come from this year’s negotiations, here is a look at five big promises from nearly 30 years of talks, and what’s happened since.
The third climate summit took place in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 – one of the warmest years recorded in the 20th century.
Known as the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement asked 41 high-emitting countries across the world and the European Union to cut their emissions by a little more than five per cent compared to 1990 levels. Emissions cuts can come from many places, from deploying green energies like wind and solar that don’t produce emissions to making things that do, like vehicles with combustible engines, run more cleanly.
Despite the agreement to cut emissions, it was only in 2005 that countries agreed to finally act on the Kyoto Protocol. The United States and China – the two highest emitters both then and now – didn’t sign the agreement.