The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the treaty, adopted in 1992, under which nearly all states negotiate global climate policy. Its members meet annually at the Conference of the Parties (COP), and decisions are taken by consensus; meaning any single state can block an outcome. The UNFCCC process produced the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, under which each country sets its own emissions target rather than having one imposed on it. It is also the forum through which climate finance for developing countries is pledged and allocated.
Separately, states have begun pursuing climate obligations through courts. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued an advisory opinion on state climate obligations in 2024, and the International Court of Justice issued one in July 2025, following a campaign led by Vanuatu and other Pacific states.