1988
Researchers sound the alarm that the Earth is warming up. The UN's climate panel IPCC is created to investigate the matter further.
Two years later, the panel reports that emissions of what is called "greenhouse gases" are increasing and can contribute to the planet's warming. In a series of studies, evidence is gathered that human activities such as coal burning, oil, gas, and deforestation are warming the Earth.
1992
The UN's climate secretariat UNFCCC is established at the Rio Conference, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 1995, the first COP - "Conferences of the Parties" - is held to try to achieve the goal.
1997
The Kyoto Protocol, the first global climate agreement, is negotiated. It is a timetable for industrialized countries to reduce emissions by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
But in 2001, the US pulls out of the agreement. And major emitters like China, India, and Brazil did not have to set any binding targets.
2007
IPCC reports that the evidence for global warming is unequivocal and that extreme weather events are likely to multiply.
In October of the same year, the climate panel is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, together with the USA's former Vice President Al Gore, for sounding the alarm about climate change.
2009
The participants at COP15 in Copenhagen fail to agree on a new target after 2012.
2015
In December, the world's countries agree on a global climate agreement - the Paris Agreement. According to it, global warming should be kept well below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels, with the ambition to limit it to 1.5 degrees. This is mainly to be achieved through reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
2018
Greta Thunberg starts skipping school on Fridays to strike outside the Swedish Parliament in protest of too little being done in the fight against climate change.
She inspires young people around the world to skip school on Fridays to demand more from global leaders.
2022
At the COP meeting on biodiversity in Montreal, countries commit to protecting 30 percent of the planet's surface by 2030. The agreement has been called a Paris Agreement for nature.
2023
At COP28 in Dubai, an agreement is reached that is described as the beginning of the end for fossil fuels.
It has taken us 30 years to get here, it should have happened a long time ago, said EU's climate chief Wopke Hoekstra.
2024
The summer on the northern hemisphere is the warmest ever recorded. According to the EU's climate service Copernicus, the temperature on the Earth's surface averages 16.82 degrees in August 2024.
