Journal of the American Medical Association | September 16, 2009
Read the PublicationThe most important global response to climate change—the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—is widely seen as a failure. Its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission target (a collective GHG reduction of 5.2% among industrialized countries compared with 1990 levels) was too low to make a significant difference; the treaty exempted highly populous transitional countries such as China and India; and the United States failed to ratify. President Obama has promised a dramatically different path based on steeper GHG reductions and leadership in global governance.