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Climate Crisis and sustainability

Climate ecological crisis and sustainability

What is climate change?

Basics of Climate Change. The United States Environmental Protection Agency.

A brief history of climate change discoveries. UK Research and Innovation. Research using i800,000 years of  ice core data.

Myth Busters - The facts on climate and energy. From the UN. The essential facts - to be shared to build support for urgent action.

What is climate change? A really simple guide.  Simple and readable outline of the major issues - from the BBC

What is climate change?  The science, cause and effect - from the United Nations

What to read to understand climate change.  From the Economist

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),were adopted by the U.N. in 2015 a "universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.  

SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

International agreements

UNFCCC - 25 Years of Effort and Achievement. Key Milestones in the Evolution of International Climate Policy.

The COP was established to unite UN countries in combatting climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The signatories of the UNFCCC meet annually at COP to plan further actions and measures. This has resulted in two formal agreements being signed:

The Kyoto Protocol (1997) Emissions reduction targets of about 5% below 1990 levels solely from industrialized countries, no requirements for developing countries and no US ratification.

The  Paris Agreement (2015) The Paris Agreement is an international treaty with the goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C  above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”. 

COP - the Conference of the parties

IPCC - Intergovernmental Policy on Climate Change. See their IPCC Summary for Policymakers

UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.