What happened in Kyoto, Japan in 1997?
In 1995, the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate was established by the first Conference of the Parties (or COP-1) to reach agreement on a further step in efforts to combat scientifically ackowledged climate change. After intense negotiations at COP-3, held in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, delegates agreed to a Protocol to the UNFCCC that commits developed countries and countries making the transition to a market economy to achieve quantified targets for decreasing their emissions of greenhouse gases. These countries, known under the UNFCCC as Annex I Parties, committed themselves to reducing their overall emissions of six greenhouse gases by at least 5% below 1990 levels over the period between 2008 and 2012, with specific targets varying from country to country. The Protocol also provided the basis for three mechanisms to assist Annex I Parties in meeting their national targets cost-effectively – an emissions trading system, joint implementation (JI) of emissions-reduction projects b
