The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It commits industrialized countries to reduce emissions by 5.2% between 2008-2012 compared to 1990 levels. The protocol offers flexible mechanisms for countries to meet emissions targets, including emissions trading between countries, investments in other countries to reduce emissions, and investments in developing countries. It monitors five main greenhouse gases and established funds to help countries adapt to climate change impacts. The protocol is seen as an important first step but more stringent reductions are still needed going forward.

1. CITIZEN ACT - saison 2011-2012 The Kyoto Protocol CITIZEN ACT – SEASON 2011-2012

3. _ What is the Kyoto Protocol ? THE KYOTO PROTOCOL The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement whose aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Signed in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11 1997, it came into force on February 16 2005 and had been ratified by 184 countries by 2010. The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is that while the Convention encouraged industrialised countries to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.

7. _ Monitoring emission targets Under the Protocol, countries’ actual emissions have to be registered and reported. The UN Climate Change Secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, keeps an international transaction log to verify that transactions are consistent with the rules of the Protocol. THE KYOTO PROTOCOL