Kyoto protocol

On December 11, 1997, delegates from more than 150 countries signed the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement to lower the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Human activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which have been proven to cause climate change. The Kyoto Protocol states that industrialized nations will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to below what they were in 1990. The Kyoto Protocol was the first major international effort to slow global climate change. Since 1997, 191 countries have backed the agreement, though the United States has not. Nations in the developing world are not bound by targets in the Kyoto Protocol. Some of these nations, such as China and Brazil, support industrial economies. Some developed nations, including the U.S., Canada, and Russia, have not agreed to emissions targets. Perhaps because of its lack of worldwide support, the Kyoto Protocol has been limited in its success: greenhouse gas output has increased since 1997, not decreased. Despite not meeting its goals, Kyoto has been significant as a symbol. It was the first step in the process to combat global warming. For information on user permissions, please read our Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played w...

• Countries have debated how to combat climate change since the early 1990s. These negotiations have produced several important accords, including the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. • Governments generally agree on the science behind climate change but have diverged on who is most responsible, how to track emissions-reduction goals , and whether to compensate harder-hit countries. • Experts say the Paris Agreement is not enough to prevent the global average temperature from rising 1.5°C. When that happens, the world will suffer devastating consequences, such as heat waves and floods. Through the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, countries agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere keeps rising, heating the Earth at an alarming rate. Scientists warn that if this warming continues unabated, it could bring environmental catastrophe to much of the world, including staggering sea-level rise, record-breaking droughts and floods, and widespread species loss. More on: Since the Paris accord was signed in 2015, many countries have strengthened their climate commitments during the annual UN climate conferences known as COPs. At the end of the 2021 gathering, countries said they would come to the next year’s conference, What are the most important international agreements on climate change? Every five years, countries are supposed to assess their progress toward implementing the agreement through a process known as the...

• The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that called for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions significantly. • Other accords, like the Doha Amendment and the Paris Climate Agreement, have also tried to curb the global-warming crisis. • Talks begun by the Kyoto Protocol continue in 2021 and are extremely complicated, involving politics, money, and lack of consensus. • The U.S. withdrew from the agreement on the grounds that the mandate was unfair and would hurt the U.S. economy. • The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, which replaced the Kyoto Protocol, includes commitments from all major GHG-emitting countries to reduce their climate-altering pollution. Understanding the Kyoto Protocol Background The Kyoto Protocol mandated that industrialized nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the threat of global warming was growing rapidly. The Protocol was linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on Dec. 11, 1997, and became international law on Feb. 16, 2005. The amount of the Kyoto Protocol fund that was meant to aid developing countries in selecting non-greenhouse-emitting industrialized processes and technologies. Responsibilities of Developed vs. Developing Nations The Kyoto Protocol recognized that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of A Particular Function for Developing Countries The protocol separated countries i...

Targets for the first commitment period The targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol cover emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, namely: • Carbon dioxide (CO2); • Methane (CH4); • Nitrous oxide (N2O); • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); • Perfluorocarbons (PFCs); and • Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) The maximum amount of emissions (measured as the equivalent in carbon dioxide) that a Party may emit over a commitment period in order to comply with its emissions target is known as a Party’s assigned amount. The individual targets for Annex I Parties are listed in the Kyoto Protocol's Annex B. Countries included in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol for the first commitment period and their emissions targets Country Target (1990** - 2008/2012) EU-15*, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia,Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco, Romania,Slovakia,Slovenia, Switzerland -8% US *** -7% Canada,**** Hungary, Japan, Poland -6% Croatia -5% New Zealand, Russian Federation, Ukraine 0 Norway +1% Australia +8% Iceland +10% * The15Stateswho were EU members in 1997 when the Kyoto Protocol was adopted,took on that 8% target that will be redistributed among themselves, taking advantage of a scheme under the Protocol known as a “bubble”, whereby countries have different individual targets, but which combined make an overall target for that group of countries.The EU has already reached agreement on how its targets will be redistributed. ** Some EITs have a baseline other than 1990. ***...