United Against Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol and Global Cooperation on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Global warming and climate change are becoming among the top main concerns of many nations. It is undeniable that the exaggerated usage of fossil fuels and the corresponding carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, is the main cause for global environmental impacts [1]. Global average temperature has increased by more than one-degree Celsius since pre-industrial times [2]. Figure 1 shows the global average temperature relative to the average of the period between 1961 and 1990. The red line represents the average annual temperature trend through time, and two light grey lines are representative of upper and lower confidence intervals. Also, can be seen that over the last few decades, global temperatures have risen sharply to approximately 0.7℃ higher than our 1961-1990 baseline. When extended back to 1850, that temperatures then were a further 0.4℃ colder than they were in our baseline. Overall, this would amount to an average temperature rise of 1.1℃ [2].