UNEP and Partners: United to Combat Climate Change

UNEP has more than twenty years of experience working on climate change. UNEP helped establish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in the 1980s and conducted assessments of the scientific understanding of climate change in preparation for the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. UNEP also supported the negotiation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which entered into force in 1994. Beyond its support for science and legal mechanisms, UNEP’s work has concentrated on efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly by promoting renewable energy and improved energy efficiency and spurring development of a carbon market. UNEP has also been active in efforts to reduce the risks of and improve society’s resilience to climate change, notably through its support to the development of National Adaptation Programmes of Action. Many of UNEP’s activities, while not driven solely by climate concerns, have had positive mitigation or adaptation impacts.