Nepal became a party of UNFCCC in 1992 and adopted Kyoto protocol in 1997 at the 3rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) along with many other nations. After eight years the government formally endorsed this decision. In the year 2003, a small group of civil society organization based in capital started a dialogue with the government about the benefit of being party to climate change convention and its associated protocol. The main attraction at that time was Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto protocol. This small group was successful to convince the government and as a result the government endorsed the Kyoto protocol on December 2005.

The group with its first success in establishing the climate change issue at the national level, was later formally named itself as “Climate Change Network Nepal (CCNN)”. This makes CCNN one of the oldest and pioneer networks on Climate change in Nepal. The network in its initial phase was very active in supporting the government as and when required. Gradually, the group expanded and ultimately it succeeded in bringing unique strengths of different agencies together.

CCNN regular activities are conducted via its secretariat. Till 2007, WWF was supporting the network as a secretariat and from 2007 and onwards Clean Energy Nepal (CEN) has been handed over the responsibility.