Delegates celebrate the adoption of the Protocol in 1997 The
Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997.
Due to a complex ratification process, it entered into force on
16 February 2005. In short, the Kyoto Protocol is what
“operationalizes” the Convention. It commits industrialized
countries to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions based on the
principles of the Convention. The Convention itself only
encourages countries to do so. KP, as it is referred to in
short, sets binding emission reduction targets for 37
industrialized countries and the European community in its first
commitment period. Overall, these targets add up to an average
five per cent emissions reduction compared to 1990 levels over
the five-year period 2008 to 2012 (the first KP was structured
on the principles of the Convention. It only binds developed
countries because it recognizes that they are largely
responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the
atmosphere, which are the result of more than 150 years