1992: Rio de Janeiro

The 1992 Earth Summit: A Defining Moment in Rio

In June 1992, Rio de Janeiro hosted the UN Earth Summit, bringing together 178 countries, activists, and scientists to tackle environmental crises. Despite high hopes, tensions arose over balancing economic growth with sustainability. 

UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali emphasized that “Development must go hand in hand with environmental stewardship.” Intense negotiations followed, as developing nations sought support for greener economies, while wealthier countries debated their roles. Activists outside the conference urged leaders to take action. The summit yielded key agreements:

• the Rio Declaration for sustainable development,

• Agenda 21 as a global action plan,

• and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to guide future climate efforts.

A young activist's sign summarized the sentiment: “Our Future, Our Responsibility.” Rio marked not an end, but a beginning.

“Development must go hand in hand with environmental stewardship.”

Creation of UNFCCC

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

From Rio to Kyoto: The Climate Imperative (1997)

Building on the momentum of Rio, the international community advanced its climate agenda through the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. This treaty established legally binding targets for industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, aiming for an average reduction of 5% below 1990 levels over the commitment period from 2008 to 2012. The protocol introduced:

• mechanisms such as emissions trading,

• the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),

• and Joint Implementation (JI) to encourage cost-effective reductions.

However, its implementation revealed significant gaps—notably, the lack of binding targets for major emerging economies like China and India, the withdrawal of key countries such as the United States, and the challenge of enforcing compliance among signatories.

Reduction of

5%

of GHG emissions

 below 1990 levels 
between 2008 and 2012
for industrialized countries

The Turning Point: The Paris Agreement

The 2015 Paris Agreement marked a historic consensus, with 196 parties committing to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Unlike Kyoto, the Paris Agreement required all countries to submit nationally determined contributions (NDCs), fostering a sense of shared responsibility. For the EU, this commitment translated into more ambitious legislation, including the European Green Deal and the Climate Law, which set a binding target to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. It also standardized, for the first time, the European binding framework related to sustainability reporting, in the form of the first Non-Financial Reporting Disclosure (NFRD). It was the predecessor of the now omnipresent CSRD regulation, aimed at regulating large corporate’s ESG-efforts.

The EU’s Push for Corporate Accountability

Recognizing that businesses are central to achieving these climate goals, the EU has implemented a series of directives to enhance corporate accountability and transparency. Key milestones include:

• The Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), introduced in 2014, which required large companies to disclose information on their environmental and social impacts.

• The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), set to replace the NFRD, broadening the scope to include more companies and mandating standardized, detailed sustainability reporting.

• Sector-specific regulations, such as the Taxonomy Regulation, which defines sustainable economic activities, and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), aimed at increasing transparency in financial markets.

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