Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change concluded in 1997 in Kyoto Japan on climate change that was ratified by many countries worldwide.

The principle objective of the protocol is for all industrial countries to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by about 5% by 2012.

A key point of the Protocol is that commited industrialised countries to stabilize GHG emissions as it recognized that developed countries were principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere

The Kyoto Protocol etsblished three main methods for achieving its objectives through market-based mechanisms. These mechanisms are:

* Emissions trading, known as "the carbon market"

* Clean development mechanism (CDM)

* Joint implementation (JI).

The method ofimplementation of these schemes has been left to individual countries and economic/political groups to implement according to their own requirements and methods and many schemes now exist throughout the world.

For further information refer to http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php