本公约第二条规定，“本公约以及缔约方会议可能通过的任何相关法律文书的最终目标是：根据本公约的各项有关规定，将大气中温室气体的浓度稳定在防止气候系统受到危险的人为干扰的水平上。这一水平应当在足以使生态系统能够自然地适应气候变化、确保粮食生产免受威胁并使经济发展能够可持续地进行的时间范围内实现。”
该公约没有对个别缔约方规定具体需承担的义务，也未规定实施机制。从这个意义上说，该公约缺少法律上的约束力。但是，该公约规定可在后续从属的议定书中设定强制排放限制。到目前为止，主要的议定书为《京都议定书》，后者甚至已经比本公约更加有名。
UNFCCC也是负责支持该公约实施的联合国秘书处的名称，其总部位于德国波恩，秘书处执行秘书菲格雷斯女士。
该公约缔约方自1995年起每年召开缔约方会议（Conferences of the parties，COp）以评估应对气候变化的进展。1997年，《京都议定书》达成，使温室气体减排成为发达国家的法律义务。按照2007年通过的《巴厘路线图》的规定，2009年在哥本哈根召开的缔约方会议第十五届会议诞生一份新的《哥本哈根议定书》，以取代2012年到期的《京都议定书》。
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992. The objective of the treaty is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
The treaty itself set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. In that sense, the treaty is considered legally non-binding. Instead, the treaty provides for updates (called "protocols") that would set mandatory emission limits. The principal update is the Kyoto protocol, which has become much better known than the UNFCCC itself.
The UNFCCC was opened for signature on May 9, 1992, after an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee produced the text of the Framework Convention as a report following its meeting in New York from April 30 to May 9, 1992. It entered into force on March 21, 1994. As of May 2011, UNFCCC has 194 parties.
One of its first tasks was to establish national greenhouse gas inventories of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals, which were used to create the 1990 benchmark levels for accession of Annex I countries to the Kyoto protocol and for the commitment of those countries to GHG reductions. Updated inventories must be regularly submitted by Annex I countries.
The UNFCCC is also the name of the United Nations Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the Convention, with offices in Haus Carstanjen, Bonn, Germany. From 2006 to 2010 the head of the secretariat was Yvo de Boer; on May 17, 2010 his successor, Christiana Figueres from Costa Rica has been named. The Secretariat, augmented through the parallel efforts of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IpCC), aims to gain consensus through meetings and the discussion of various strategies.
The parties to the convention have met annually from 1995 in Conferences of the parties (COp) to assess progress in dealing with climate change. In 1997, the Kyoto protocol was concluded and established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
