The summit opening in Paris next Monday could mark a turning point in the climate negotiations.

But the journey to Paris has been tortuous since 1992 with the world earth summit in Rio de Janeiro…

1992: Holding of the Rio de Janeiro earth summit with the adoption of a Framework Convention of the United Nations on Climate Change with the recognition of the role of man in this phenomenon and the affirmation of the necessity to stabilize concentrations of global warming and the Greenhouse effect.

1997: Adoption of the Kyoto Protocol (Japan) by which some 37 developed countries accepted to reduce by 5è2 percent their gas emissions for the period 1990 to 2012 inclusive

2005: Entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol which today has been ratified by 193 countries

2007: Holding of the 13^th conference of parties, COP ’13 in Bali, Indonesia resulting in the adoption of the Bali Action Plan which sought to negotiate a new agreement as a follow up to the first part of the commitments taken at Kyoto

2009: Holding of COP ’15 at Copenhagen with the signing of a common agreement on the reducing warming to a maximum2°C. developed countries also agree to provide USD 30 Billion between 2010 and 2012 to offset the problems of the developing countries in the effort

2010: At the COP’16 in Cancun, Mexico, a legally-binding agreement is signed providing for transparency in actions and the provision of funding to the tune of USD 100 Billion by 2015 and the creation of institutions such as the Green Fund

2011: At COP ’17 in Durban, South Africa, the Durban Platform is launched with the main objective of adopting a universal         agreement by 2015

2012: The Rio summit, dubbed Rio+20 recognises the pertinence of the Green economy and introduces the notion of the social dimension of sustainable development. It also creates a high-level political forum for sustainable development and the launching of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs

2014: At the COP ’14 summit in Lima, Peru a draft agreement on the Paris Agreement is elaborated with emphasis on the definition of the procedure for the integration of national contributions at the Paris summit.