UNFCCC -
​United Nations 1992 Framework ​Convention
​on Climate Change


Why does DAI as defined by the UNFCCC matter

DAI is defined as an atmospheric GHG concentration ​​that would endanger or risk the sustainability of ecosystems, food productivity,and economies, with particular reference to the most climate change regions (that are listed) and populations.  


​Key UNFCCC provisions.

Strong legal language e.g. shall ​rather than should

Defining goals
  • Risk​ based (avoidance of danger)
  • Precaution​ary principle
  • Safe atmospheric GHG levels​ goal
  • Differential nation responsibility​ for cumulative emissions
  • Limit emissions first by Annex 1 industrialized most responsible nation Parties
  • Rapid return ​of emissions to pre-1992
  • Transfer of funds and technology to the most vulnerable                           

​​Article 2 Objective

The ultimate objective of this Convention and any related legal instruments that the Conference of the Parties may adopt is to achieve, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

​Article 4 Commitments
2a The developed country Parties in annex I commit themselves specifically 

(a) Each of these Parties shall adopt national policies and take corresponding measures on the mitigation of climate change, by limiting its anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and protecting and enhancing its greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs. These policies and measures will demonstrate that developed countries are taking the lead in modifying longer-term trends in anthropogenic emissions consistent with the objective of the Convention, recognizing that the return by the end of the present decade to earlier levels of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol would contribute to such modification

3. The developed country Parties and other developed Parties included in annex II shall provide new and additional financial resources to meet the agreed full costs incurred by developing country Parties in complying with their obligations under Article 12 , paragraph 1. They shall also provide such financial resources, including for the transfer of technology, needed by the developing country Parties to meet the agreed full incremental costs of implementing measures that are covered by paragraph 1 of this Article and that are agreed between a developing country Party and the international entity or entities referred to in Article 11 , in accordance with that Article. The implementation of these commitments shall take into account the need for adequacy and predictability in the flow of funds and the importance of appropriate burden sharing among the developed country Parties.

4. The developed country Parties and other developed Parties included in annex II shall also assist the developing country Parties that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting costs of adaptation to those adverse effects.

5. The developed country Parties and other developed Parties included in annex II shall take all practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance, as appropriate, the transfer of, or access to, environmentally sound technologies and know-how to other Parties, particularly developing country Parties, to enable them to implement the provisions of the Convention. In this process, the developed country Parties shall support the development and enhancement of endogenous capacities and technologies of developing country Parties. 

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Under the UN 1992 UN climate convention countries had to avoid a climate emergency by not allowing atmospheric GHGs reaching dangerous levels, only global warming has been used as a limit- a much less reliable metric. 

The term is "dangerous (anthropogenic) interference with the climate system" (DAI) 
The Dec 2015 UN Paris Climate Conference. Agreement is not be legally allows national governments to carry on with individual policies and plans regards climate change. In terms of the UNFCCC it is a non agreement that flouts the terms of the Convention and keeps the world headed for planetary catastrophe.