# In the second half of the 20th century, environmental issues entered the international and intergovernmental arena for the first time. In 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) came into being, alongside national commitments to safeguard the environment.
# The concept of climate changetook root in the 1980s after scientists warned of risks from increased greenhouse gas emissions.
# In 1988 the World Meteorological Organization and UNEP jointly established an intergovernmental assessment of the science, impacts and response options of climate change.
# In 1990 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its first assessment report, warning of emissions from human activities.
# The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and Paris Agreement in 2015 set countries targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions to keep temperature rise “well below 2 °C”
#This year, ahead of the COP26 conference, the IPCC’s sixth assessment report warned of a ‘code red for humanity’.