United Nations | December 1997
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. Owing to a complex ratification process, it currently has 192 Parties. The treaty follows the main principles agreed upon in the 1992 convention.
It operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in accordance with agreed-upon individual targets. The Convention itself only asks those countries to adopt mitigation policies and measures and report periodically.
The Kyoto Protocol is based on the principles and provisions of the Convention and follows its annex-based structure. It only binds developed countries and places a heavier burden on them under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities” because it recognizes that they are primarily responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere.
The Kyoto Protocol forms the basis for international agreements on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These agreements are binding. The Protocol allowed emissions trading within and among member states but made no further specifications.
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