What Is the Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol was an international agreement that aimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the presence of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. The essential tenet of the Kyoto Protocol was that industrialized nations needed to reduce their CO2 emissions. The protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, as greenhouse gas emissions threatened climate stability. It was effectively replaced by the Paris Agreement, which went into effect in 2016.

Understanding the Kyoto Protocol

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. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997, and became international law on February 16, 2005.

Countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol were assigned maximum carbon emission levels for specific periods and participated in carbon credit trading. If a country emitted more than its assigned limit, then it would be penalized by receiving a lower emissions limit in the following period.

Developed, industrialized countries made a promise under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their annual hydrocarbon emissions by an average of 5.2% by the year 2012. Targets depended on the individual country. As a result, each nation had a different target to meet by that year. Members of the European Union (EU) pledged to cut emissions by 8%, while the U.S. and Canada promised to reduce their emissions by 7% and 6%, respectively, by 2012.

Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms

The Kyoto Protocol established three different mechanisms to enable countries to meet their targeted emissions limits. The three mechanisms were:

• The International Emissions Trading Mechanism: Countries that had excess emission units permitted to them but did not use them could engage in carbon trading and sell these units to countries that were over-target.
• The Clean Development Mechanism: Countries with emissions reduction or limiting commitments could implement reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified credits.
• The Joint Implementation Mechanism: Countries with emissions reduction or limiting commitments could earn emission-reducing units from a project implemented in conjunction with another party.

Responsibilities of Developed vs. Developing Nations

The Kyoto Protocol recognized that developed countries are principally responsible for the high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity. As such, the protocol placed a heavier burden on developed nations compared to less-developed nations.

The Kyoto Protocol mandated that 37 industrialized nations and the EU cut their GHG emissions. Developing nations were asked to comply voluntarily, and more than 100 developing countries, including China and India, were exempted from the Kyoto agreement altogether.

A Particular Function for Developing Countries

The protocol separated countries into two groups: Annex I contained developed nations, and Non-Annex I referred to developing countries. The protocol placed emission limitations on Annex I countries only. Non-Annex I nations participated by investing in projects designed to lower emissions in their countries.

For these projects, developing countries earned carbon credits, which they could trade or sell to developed countries, allowing the developed nations a higher level of maximum carbon emissions for that period. In effect, this function helped the developed countries to continue emitting GHG vigorously.

U.S. Involvement

The U.S., which ratified the original Kyoto Protocol, dropped out of the protocol in 2001. The U.S. believed that the agreement was unfair because it called only for industrialized nations to limit emissions reductions, and it felt that doing so would hurt the U.S. economy.

Additional Kyoto Protocol Changes

Global emissions were still on the rise by 2005, the year the Kyoto Protocol became international law. In fact, there was an increase of about 40% in emissions globally between 1990 and 2009.

The EU was able to exceed its initial target and said it was on track to meet its goals to continue reducing emissions in the future. However, the United States and China, two of the world's biggest emitters, produced enough greenhouse gases to mitigate any of the progress made by other nations that met their targets.

The Doha Amendment Extended Kyoto Protocol to 2020

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.

The Doha Amendment had a short life. In 2015, at the sustainable development summit held in Paris, all UNFCCC participants signed yet another pact, the Paris Climate Agreement, which effectively replaced the Kyoto Protocol.

The Paris Climate Agreement

The Paris Climate Agreement is a landmark environmental pact that was adopted by nearly every nation in 2015 to address climate change and its negative effects. The agreement includes commitments from all major GHG-emitting countries to cut their climate-altering pollution and to strengthen those commitments over time.

A major directive of the deal calls for reducing global GHG emissions to limit the earth's temperature increase in this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with an aim for below 1.5-degrees Celsius relative to preindustrial levels. The Paris Agreement also provides a way for developed nations to assist developing nations in their efforts to adapt climate control, and it creates a framework for monitoring and reporting countries’ climate goals transparently.

The Kyoto Protocol Today

In 2016, when the Paris Climate Agreement went into force, the United States was one of the principal drivers of the agreement, and President Obama hailed it as “a tribute to American leadership.”

In the same period, presidentidal candidate Donald Trump criticized the agreement as a bad deal for the American people and pledged to withdraw the country from the agreement if elected. In 2017, then-President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

The former president did not begin the formal withdrawal process until November 4, 2019. The U.S. formally withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement on November 4, 2020, the day after the 2020 presidential election, in which Donald Trump lost his reelection bid to Joseph Biden.

On January 20, 2021, his first day in office, President Biden began the process of rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, which officially took effect on February 19, 2021.

Kyoto Protocol Timeline

Below are some relevant dates relating to the development, implementation, and revisions to the Kyoto Protocol:

• December 11, 1997: The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the Conference of the Parties in Kyoto, Japan.
• November 14, 1998: 170 governments adopted a two-year plan titled the Buenos Aires Plan of Action to reduce the risk of global climate change.
• March 16, 1998: The Kyoto Protocol becomes open for signatures.
• March 15, 1999: One year after being open for signatures, the Kyoto Protocol had received 84 signatures.
• February 16, 2005: The Kyoto Protocol goes into force.
• December 8, 2012: The Doha Amendment was adopted for a second commitment period.
• March 25, 2013: Afghanistan becomes the 192nd signatory of the Kyoto Protocol. As of August 2023, there remained 192 signatories.
• December 12, 2015: The Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 parties at COP21 in Paris, largely superseding the Kyoto Protocol.
• November 4, 2016: The Paris Agreement went into effect.
• December 31, 2020: After obtaining acceptance by 147 parties and meeting the minimum threshold of acceptance requirement, the Doha Amendment was officially adopted.

The Bottom Line

The Kyoto Protocol is largely considered a landmark legislative achievement as one of the more prominent international treaties in regards to climate change. Though the treaty has been superseded by the Paris Agreement, the Kyoto Protocol remains an important part of environmental and conservation history.