International

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the U.S. weather and oceanography agency and offers a comprehensive portal for global climate observations. Climate data and analyses can be accessed at the National Climate Data Center (NCDC).

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) consolidates atmospheric research from universities in the USA and operates observation platforms and supercomputers for climate modeling.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates U.S. research on global climate change.

Access to NASA's climate data is provided by the Goddard Space Flight Center (Global Change Master Directory).

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) plays a crucial role in organizing and disseminating climate research. It has hosted three World Climate Conferences (1979, 1990, 2009).

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) was established as part of the World Climate Programme (WCP) following the first World Climate Conference and plays a significant role in coordinating international climate research. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded in 1988 by the WMO and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to assess scientific, societal, and economic information on climate change and provide it as a basis for political decision-makers (Assessment Reports, Synthesis Report AR4).

At the second World Climate Conference, the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was initiated, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was agreed upon, which was signed by 154 nations in Rio de Janeiro (Earth Summit) in 1992. Since its ratification, political representatives have met annually at the Climate Summit (Conferences of the Parties, COP).