Marking the Kyoto Protocol’s 25th anniversary

United Nations - Climate Change

Published: December 11th, 2022

The Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty to set legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, was adopted 25 years ago, on 11 December 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. The agreement, which entered into force in 2005 and was ratified by 192 Parties, has since been superseded by the Paris Agreement, but remains a historic landmark in the international fight against climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol committed industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets. Under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities,” the Protocol mandated that 37 industrialized nations plus the European Community cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels, and established a system to monitor countries’ progress.

The Kyoto Protocol only binds developed countries, as they are largely responsible for the high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

To enable countries to meet their emissions reduction targets, the Kyoto Protocol established three market-based mechanisms: Through Emissions Trading, countries that emit less than they are allowed to can sell this amount to industrialized countries that produce more than they should. In this way, it becomes economically beneficial to reduce emissions. With the Clean Development Mechanism and the Joint Implementation mechanism, countries can invest in an emission-reducing project and gain credit points.

In December 2012, after the first commitment period of the Protocol ended, parties to the Kyoto Protocol met in Doha, Qatar, to adopt an amendment to the original Kyoto agreement. This so-called Doha Amendment added new emission-reduction targets for the second commitment period, 2012–2020, for participating countries.

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