In 1997 the world body known as COP met at Kyoto, Japan to further discuss the issues of global warming that had been the topic of the body for the past several years. The commitments that ultimately obtained from the discussion became known as the Kyoto Protocol. Since evolving this Protocol several more Conferences have been held, but most all such conferences have been in furtherance of the Protocol; and in that regards the protocol is perhaps the effective guide on Global warming that is in force to come through the United Nations, and is still the commitments to which virtually all global warming mitigation technologies that are developed must abide in the very least.

The Protocol itself evolved out of a series of conferences held by the United Nations beginning in 1979 with the First World Conference on Climate in which invited scientist brought to world attention, the impact of human activities on the climate. Subsequently in 1985, under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an international workshop on climate change was held in Villach, Austria, which also determined that significant climate change due to human activities is probable, and that a global climate convention should be adopted. Then in 1988 the WMO and UNEP establish an intergovernmental panel of experts to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relating to climate change. The panel is named the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

While the IPCC was conducting its assessment of the implications of global warming, yet another conference, The "World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security" was convened and held in Toronto, Canada. The conference called for global CO₂ emissions reductions of 20% by 2005, the development of a world atmosphere fund to be financed through fossil fuel taxes, and the development of a framework convention on the atmosphere.

Finally, in 1990 The IPCC released its First Assessment Report on global climate change at a meeting at Sundsvall, Sweden. The report concludes that global temperatures could increase by 0.3 degrees Celsius if CO₂ emissions are not abated. Although the broad concepts of the report are approved by the 71 nations participating in the meeting, it is approved only after significant concessions to developing nations. These nations fear that international limits on greenhouse gas emissions could jeopardize future economic development.

Then, in 1992 in the United Nations Conference of Environment and Development better known as the Earth Summit which was held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), better known as the Global Warming Treaty was opened for signature and ratified, and entered into force in 1994. By 2004, the Convention has been joined by the European Union and 188 nations, having either ratified, accepted, approved, or acceded to the Treaty. These member nations are now formally collectively known as Parties to the Convention.

The Treaty was primarily based on the IPCC's First Assessment Report issued two years earlier. The FCCC does not contain binding targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, but recognizes that reducing greenhouse gas emissions to their 1990 levels by  the year 2000 would be beneficial. The Treaty does require industrialized nations to issue national reports on greenhouse gas emissions and  to provide financial and technical assistance to developing nations so that these nations can produce similar reports.

Since entering into force in 2004, the parties to the Convention have convened conferences periodically where they met to marshal tactical and implementation plans for effectuating the terms of the Convention. These conferences of the Parties are formally called COP.

In COP 1 held in 1994 in Berlin Germany, Parties to the Convention approved a resolution  committing signatories to open negotiations to extend and strengthen commitments under the FCCC, including new emission reduction targets beyond 2000, and also set more definitive commitment for the industrialized nations. The resolution became known as The Berlin Mandate.

1995 The IPCC completed its Second Assessment Report on climate change. The report finds that greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to rise, climate has changed over the past century and is expected to change in the future, and that the "balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate."

The Kyoto Protocol

Under the Berlin Mandate, intense negotiation was undertaken leading  to series of extensions and firmer legally binding commitments to the terms of the Convention, that was adopted in COP 3 held in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and that became known as the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol, however, only sketched out basic rules but without detailed implementation plans. Further, it also required a separate, formal process of signatory and ratification by the individual governments. As a result a new set of negotiations was launched which carried on through COP 7, the Marrakesh Accords, which spelt out more detailed rules for the Protocol as well as advanced prescriptions for implementing the Convention and its rules.

Eventually, the Protocol went into effect on February 16, 2005.

The significant recommendation of the Protocol is that Parties of the Convention reduce the greenhouse gas emission by about five percent (5%) of the nation's emission level of 1990 or 1995, as per the choice of the Party, and that this reduction should be achieved over a five year span from 2008 through 2012.

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