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• Kyoto protocol
  Kyoto protocol

  noun

  an amendment to the United Nations international treaty on global warming in which participating nations commit to reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide, negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997
• Kyoto Protocol
  Kyoto Protocol

  An agreement on global warming reached by the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. The major industrial nations pledged to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. (See greenhouse effect.) Although the American delegation signed the protocol, the United States Senate has refused to ratify the treaty, mainly because it believes that the targeted reductions are so steep that they will produce a severe economic slump.

Kyoto protocol

British  

noun

1. an amendment to the United Nations international treaty on global warming in which participating nations commit to reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide, negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997

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Kyoto Protocol Cultural  

1. An agreement on global warming reached by the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. The major industrial nations pledged to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. (See greenhouse effect.) Although the American delegation signed the protocol, the United States Senate has refused to ratify the treaty, mainly because it believes that the targeted reductions are so steep that they will produce a severe economic slump.

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Attacking the U.S. position as selfish, European governments have been extremely critical of the U.S. refusal to ratify the protocol.

Example Sentences

In a 1997 speech in China, he spoke out against the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to set global emission-reduction targets that the U.S. eventually rejected.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

In December 1997, the UK delegation led by the deputy PM played a leading role in agreeing the landmark Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024

Despite the agreement to cut emissions, it was only in 2005 that countries agreed to finally act on the Kyoto Protocol.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 12, 2023

In the late 1990s she led the first U.N. climate conferences and the Kyoto Protocol.

From Scientific American • Oct. 25, 2023

It was a milestone and set the stage two years later for the Kyoto Protocol, which at the time was a landmark global climate agreement.

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2022