what is kyoto protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997, and entered into force on February 16, 2005. The main goal of the Kyoto Protocol is to control emissions of the main anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) in ways that reflect underlying national differences in GHG emissions, wealth, and capacity to make the reductions. The treaty follows the main principles agreed in the original 1992 UN Framework Convention. The Kyoto Protocol mandates that industrialized nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the threat of global warming was growing rapidly. The 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, and as such, placed a heavier burden on developed nations compared to less-developed nations. The Kyoto Protocol was effectively replaced by the Paris Agreement, which went into effect in 2016.