Kyoto convention

On 11 December 1997, the Additional Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in Kyoto, Japan. The aim was to decelerate climate change through climate protection measures. The Kyoto Protocol contained clear rules on how to reduce greenhouse gases. It entered into force in 2005 and was replaced by the Paris Agreement in 2021.

How was it born and what is established in the protocol?

During the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted to stabilize the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a sustainable level and thus prevent serious consequences of climate change. After ratification by the 50th state, the Convention entered into force in 1994.

The signatory states have since met at regular intervals in the so-called COPs (Conference of the Parties) to agree on the next steps to be taken on international climate protection. In 1997 this meeting took place in the Japanese Kyoto, where the "Kyoto Protocol" was approved, i.e. the first document containing legally binding reduction and limitation obligations of greenhouse gas emissions for ratifying industrial countries. The validity period was defined from 2008 to 2012 (1st commitment period) and from 2013 to 2020 (2nd commitment period).

In the first period, the industrialized countries had to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2% compared to 1990. The countries of the European Union and Switzerland have set themselves the goal of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 8% compared to 1990. At the time, there were no fixed reduction amounts for emerging and developing countries.

The Kyoto Protocol has offered, among other things, mechanisms to help industrialized countries meet their emission reduction targets. The so-called "flexible mechanisms" or "Kyoto mechanisms" have enabled industrialized countries to meet part of their reduction commitments abroad. For the voluntary offsetting market, the project-based Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has provided an important framework.

Countries involved

The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by over 191 countries in total. It went into effect in 2005, after being signed by more than 55 countries responsible for at least 55 percent of CO₂ emissions from industrialized countries in 1990. The United States never joined the Kyoto Protocol and Canada abandoned it before the end of the first period. The countries of the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, and some other countries, on the other hand, have undertaken reduction commitments up to 2020 as part of the second commitment period.

Protocol failure

The emission reductions of the first commitment period have been achieved. At the time, for example, 15 EU states, including Switzerland, which had committed to an average reduction of 8 percent, achieved a reduction of 11.7 percent compared to 1990. Nonetheless, the trend is clear: Countries like the United States and the emerging economies of China, Mexico, Brazil, and India have steadily increased their CO₂ emissions over the same period. In 2010, global greenhouse gas emissions had increased by about 29 percent compared to 1990.