Abstract

A first global legally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global temperature rise has been adopted in Paris in December 2015 by the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Less than a year later the agreement entered into force, showing the commitment of the global community to act against the adverse impacts of climate change, which has been highlighted during the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) in Marrakech. Since the creation of the UNFCCC in 1992, the process was accompanied by the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) created in 1988 in order to assess the scientific basis of climate change. To achieve this task, the IPCC published Assessment Reports on a regular basis, the latest being the 5th Assessment Report published in 2013/14. In the present talk I will highlight the milestones of both the IPCC and the UNFCCC and how both bodies interacted to provide policy makers with the best available information on our current understanding of climate change. I will also highlight the open scientific questions in the Paris Agreement and how the IPCC is expected to inform the Convention up to its 6th Assessment Report which will be published in 2021/22.