In the mid-1980s, a growing body of scientific evidence linked man-made greenhouse gas emissions to global warming. In 1990, the United Nations General Assembly issued a report that confirmed this link. The Rio Accord of 1992 resulted from this report. Formally called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the accord was signed by various nations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and committed industrialized nations to stabilizing their emissions at 1990 levels by 2000.

In December 1997, representatives of 160 nations met in Kyoto, Japan, in an attempt to produce a new and improved treaty on climate change. Major differences occurred between industrialized and still developing countries with the United States perceived, particularly by representatives of the European Union (EU), as not doing its share to reduce emissions, especially those of carbon dioxide.

The outcome of this meeting, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention...