Climate Change
UNFCCC was the other binding agreement opened for signature at Rio Earth Summit. The Convention on Climate Change sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. It recognizes that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Convention enjoys near universal membership, with 189 countries having it ratified and it entered into force on 21 March 1994. Bulgaria signed the Convention in 1992, ratified it in 1995 and since then it is in force.
The Convention legally binding status is significantly strengthened by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which shares the Convention’s objective, principles and institutions, but commits Annex I Parties to individual, legally-binding targets to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. 168 countries and one regional economic integration organization (the EEC) have ratified the Protocol to date. Bulgaria signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1998, ratified it in 2002 and it entered into force in 2005.
