Global warming is currently one of the most widely discussed issues within the media, scientific community, international governing bodies and individual campaign groups. The 0.6 ¢ªC rise in temperature witnessed globally over the last century and the fact that since 1991 there have been 10 of the warmest years since records began shows undeniably that there is evidence of global warming. Since the 1980s there have been international attempts to tackle climate problems and individual governments have had to reciprocate with strategies implemented on a local scale. The effectiveness of the strategies on a local scale varies between countries largely due to the issue of whether countries fear economic loss over environmental game.

The first point at which the global community recognised that action was required in response to climate change was in 1985 when the Vienna Convention was held addressing the issue of CFCs. This led to the Montreal Protocol in...