International Climate Policy Approaches

Abstract

There is no other more global issue than rapid global climate change. Organisms in the deep sea, polar bears and many human societies are threatened by it. Obviously, there must be a global approach to climate policy. Although the knowledge about the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere dates back into the 19^th century and the potential concentration change of a major greenhouse gas, namely CO₂, was discussed in the late 19^th century, it was only in the second half of the 20^th century that observations of a CO₂ concentration change emerged. Several years after the installation of measuring stations on the slopes of a volcano (Mauna Loa) on Hawaii and the South Pole, both the global upward trend and the annual cycle of CO₂ in the Northern Hemisphere became clear. As the period from the early 1950 to the 1970s was one without a mean global warming, mainly due to a strong rise in air turbidity related to sulphur dioxide emissions largely from coal burning — as fossil fuel use grew by more than 4 percent per year globally — the knowledge about the growing CO₂ level did not reach many political decision makers. When did the global political community first react to scientific findings?