The Kyoto Protocol’s 20th anniversary

11, Dec 2017 | CJP Team

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement tied to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which establishes internationally binding targets to cut emissions.  Under the Protocol, nations are required to implement national measures to meet emissions targets. However, the Protocol also outlines market-based measures, such as trading emissions units, to achieve targets. At the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP23, in Bonn, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to ratify the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol. He noted that “current pledges” towards mitigating emissions “will only deliver a third of what is needed” and that “the window of opportunity” to keep the global average temperature increase to 2ºC “may close in 20 years or less.”