WWLegal.com :: Kyoto Protocol Comes into Force on 16 February 2005

Kyoto Protocol Comes into Force on 16 February 2005
Posted on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - 12:14 PM

The Kyoto Protocol, which aims to slow global warming, comes into force on 16 February 2005, seven years after being agreed.
The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty on global warming. It also reaffirms sections of the UNFCCC. Countries which ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases, which have been linked to global warming.

The protocol, which becomes a legally binding treaty at 0500 GMT on 16 February 2005, demands a 5.2% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from the industrialised world as a whole, by 2012. Each country has been set its own individual targets according to its pollution levels.

However, the US and Australia have abstained for economic reasons, and developing countries such as China and India are outside its framework.

Further information on the Kyoto Protocol can be found at http://unfccc.int/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php.

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