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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 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

Among the tributes paid to him on Thursday was one from Al Gore, the American former vice president, who praised Mr. Prescott’s work in helping to negotiate the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2024

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

From Scientific American • Oct. 25, 2023

Large-scale intergovernmental agreements like the 1997 Kyoto Protocol — in which more than 150 countries committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions — got more coverage than individual actions in textbooks across the decades.

From Salon • Dec. 21, 2022

“The flexibility that defines the Kyoto Protocol was very much designed in the USA,” he said.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 4, 2022