Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that establishes legally binding commitments for the reduction of four greenhouse gases (GHGs) and two families of gases produced by industrialized nations. As of May 2009, 183 parties have ratified the protocol, which was initially adopted for use on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, and which entered into force on February 16, 2005. Under Kyoto, industrialized countries agreed to reduce their collective GHG emissions by on average 5.2 percent compared with 1990. National limitations range from 8 percent reductions for the European Union and some others to 7 percent for the United States, 6 percent for Japan, and 0 percent for Russia. The protocol limits GHG emission increases to 8 percent for Australia and 10 percent for Iceland.

On May 9, 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted. The ultimate objective of the Convention (Article 2) is to stabilize concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The convention divided countries into two groups: those listed in Annex I (Annex I Parties) and those not listed (Non-Annex I Parties). Annex I Parties are industrialized countries that have historically emitted the most GHGs. Their per capita emissions are higher than those of most developing countries, and they have more financial and institutional resources to address the problem. The principles of equity and of “common but differentiated responsibilities” set out in the convention require these parties to take the lead in changing emissions trends. To this end, the Annex I Parties agreed to adopt policies and measures with the (legally nonbinding) objective of stabilizing their emissions at 1990 levels in 2000. Non–Annex I countries are mainly developing countries. However, there are also some that would now be categorized as newly industrialized countries, such as South Korea, China, Mexico, and South Africa. The convention recognizes that financial assistance and technology transfer are essential to enable developing countries to cope with global warming and to adapt to its effects.

The parties meet annually at the Conference of Parties, the supreme body of the convention. At these meetings, the parties make the necessary decisions to promote the effective implementation of the convention and pursue dialogue on the best measures to fight global warming.

[Page 260]At the first Conference of the Parties, which took place in Berlin in 1995, the parties agreed that the specific commitments of the convention for the Annex I parties were not adequate because they were too vague. The parties then launched a new round of discussions to achieve tougher and more specific targets for Annex I parties. After two and a half years of intense negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties on December 11, 1997, in Japan.

The Kyoto Protocol to the convention entered into force on February 16, 2005, or 90 days after the date of deposition of the instrument of ratification by Russia. Russian participation was essential, following the refusal to ratify by the United States, because a prerequisite for the protocol's entry into force is that ratifying parties account for at least 55 percent of the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of all Annex I Parties of the convention, which Russia enabled it to do. On December 3, 2007, the new prime minister of Australia Kevin Rudd signed the instruments of ratification by Australia, making the United States the only industrialized country that has not deposited its instrument of ratification.

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