Treaty

By: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Date: December 11, 1997

Source: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "The Kyoto Protocol." December 11, 1997.

About the Organization: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change includes representatives from 154 countries, including the United States. It was formed during the second Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

The Kyoto Protocol is a system of rules, regulations, and requirements that were agreed upon by a group of countries known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The major goal of the Protocol is to decrease the global emissions of six critical greenhouse gases to levels that are 5 percent below what they were in 1990.

The negotiations to develop an international treaty controlling greenhouse gases began in 1972, Page 319  |  Top of Articlewith the first Earth Summit in Stockholm, Sweden. Leaders from around the world gathered to assess the environmental conditions of the planet and decided to meet every decade for further discussions. The 1982 Earth Summit was scheduled to meet in Nairobi, Kenya, but because of the Cold War, the Summit was not successful.

The second Earth Summit took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where world leaders convened to discuss the growing concern over greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The result was the formation of the UNFCCC, which includes 154 industrialized countries including the United States, the countries of the European Union, Japan, Russia, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The UNFCCC does not include China or India. The convention concluded with a resolution to bring the emissions of greenhouse gases back to the levels that they were in 1990. This resolution was signed by the United States.

Following the second Earth Summit, the countries in the UNFCCC began meeting to flush out the details of the resolution signed in Rio de Janeiro. The first of these meetings, called Conference of Parties I or COP I, occurred in 1995 in Berlin. The meeting reiterated the Parties' commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gases and set timeframes and goals for member nations to achieve agreed-upon reductions.

COP II took place in Geneva, Switzerland. The major outcome of this meeting was a declaration confirming that scientific information provided compelling evidence that global change was occurring as a result of human activities.

The Kyoto Protocol was the result of the third meeting of the UNFCCC, or COP III, between December 1-11, 1997. The Parties agreed that the emissions goals set at the second Earth Summit were not stringent enough. They reduced the global targets by five percent with mandatory targets for all the member countries. These targets depend on each country's individual economy and future emissions projections. For example, the United States' goal is a 7 percent reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases; Germany's is 25 percent; and Japan's is 6 percent. A key feature of the Protocol is that it establishes an emissions trading program so that countries can best decide how they will reach their goals. The Protocol also calls for additional meetings so that Parties can agree on penalties if a country fails to meet its emission targets.

The Protocol contains twenty-five articles. Articles 1 through 3 and Articles 25 and 28 are included here. Also included are Annexes A and B. Annex A identifies greenhouse gases and sources of greenhouse gases. Annex B lists the Parties to the agreement as well as their emission commitment. The numbers are percentages compared to their 1990 emissions.

The Parties to this Protocol,

Being Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, hereinafter referred to as "the Convention,"

In pursuit of the ultimate objective of the Convention as stated in its Article 2,

Recalling the provisions of the Convention,

Being guided by Article 3 of the Convention,

Pursuant to the Berlin Mandate adopted by decision 1/CP.1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention at its first session,

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1 For the purposes of this Protocol, the definitions contained in Article 1 of the Convention shall apply. In addition:

Article 2

1. Each Party included in Annex I, in achieving its quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments under Article 3, in order to promote sustainable development, shall:

2. The Parties included in Annex I shall pursue limitation or reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol from aviation and marine bunker fuels, working through the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization, respectively.

3. The Parties included in Annex I shall strive to implement policies and measures under this Article in such a way as to minimize adverse effects, including the adverse effects of climate change, effects on international trade, and social, environmental and economic impacts on other Parties, especially developing country Parties and in particular those identified in Article 4, paragraphs 8 and 9, of the Convention, taking into account Article 3 of the Convention. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol may take further action, as appropriate, to promote the implementation of the provisions of this paragraph.

4. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, if it decides that it would be beneficial to coordinate any of the policies and measures in paragraph 1(a) above, taking into account different national circumstances and potential effects, shall consider ways and means to elaborate the coordination of such policies and measures.

Article 3

Article 25

Article 28 The original of this Protocol, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. DONE at Kyoto this eleventh day of December one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized to that effect, have affixed their signatures to this Protocol on the dates indicated.

Greenhouse gases

Sectors/source categories

Party Quantified emission limitation orreduction commitment (percentage of base year or period)

∗Countries that are undergoing the process of transition to a market economy.

The Kyoto Protocol text was adopted unanimously at the end of the COP III meeting. However, it was opened for signatures by the various countries in March of 1998. As described in Article 25, in order for the Protocol to be enforced, it must be signed by fifty-five countries representing at least 55 percent of the global greenhouse emissions.

Following the meeting in Kyoto, the Conference of Parties met to negotiate some of the technical details of the Kyoto Protocol. Of key importance was the definition of a carbon sink, which is a natural mechanism that reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Examples of carbon sinks are forests and phytoplankton in lakes and oceans. The definition of a carbon sink has implications for the emissions trading program. Other issues involved the regulations and operating structures in the emissions trading program. Many of these details were worked out in a meeting in Marrakech and are referred to as the Marrakech Accords.

After the U.S. presidential election in 2000, George W. Bush announced that the United States was not going to ratify the Kyoto Protocol because of the economic impacts it would have on the country. Instead, he announced that the U.S. had decided to pursue alternative measures for controlling of greenhouse gas emissions. The loss of the United States called the future of the Kyoto Protocol into question, because the United States was responsible for a significant portion—thirty-six percent—of the total
On February 15, 2005, environmentalists in Italy show their pleasure at the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol by marching in front of Rome's Chigi government office. The protocol became effective February 16, 2005. AP Images greenhouse emissions in 1990. In order for the Kyoto Protocol to become enforceable all of the industrialized countries, including the entire European Union, Japan, and Russia, would have to ratify the agreement.

In 2002, COP VIII was held in New Delhi, India. The conference made clear that there was a growing concern in the international community regarding the responsibilities of developing and industrialized countries. In particular, the industrialized countries in the European Union felt that developing countries, in particular India and China, should be required to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the developing countries have called on the industrialized countries to provide aid to compensate for economic losses that would result from efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions. The fact that the United States refused to support the Kyoto Protocol exacerbated the divisions between countries.

On November 18 2004, Russia ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The sum of the emissions by signatories of the Protocol thus reached 62 percent. This surmounted the 55 percent threshold required for the Protocol to come into effect, which occurred on February 16, 2005. When the Protocol became binding, the eighty-four countries that had signed it became responsible for meeting the obligations for Page 323  |  Top of Articlereducing their greenhouse gas emissions as set out in the agreement.