In a series of studies, evidence accumulated that human activities — voracious burning of coal, oil and gas; logging of rainforests and destructive farming practices — were heating the Earth’s surface, a prelude to disruptions of its climate system
With UN climate talks to start in Dubai on Thursday, here are 10 key dates in the battle against global warming.
1988: Alarm bells
Alerted by scientists to signs that the Earth’s surface was warming, the United Nations in 1988 established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to investigate.
Two years later, the panel reported that heat-trapping “greenhouse” gases generated by human activity were on the rise and could intensify planetary warming.
In a series of studies, evidence accumulated that human activities — voracious burning of coal, oil and gas; logging of rainforests and destructive farming practices — were heating the Earth’s surface, a prelude to disruptions of its climate system.
1992: Earth…