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

It's a strategy rolled out since the early 2000s in the wake of the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, when firms largely dropped their denial of climate change and promoted themselves as essential players for an energy transition.

From Barron's

Rather than binding emissions reductions of its Kyoto Protocol predecessor, Paris is a flexible framework of voluntary greenhouse gas reductions to stave off climate catastrophe.

From Slate

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

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

Almost 30 years after more than 150 nations became party to the Kyoto Protocol, which required some Western nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions, climate change has become an increasingly urgent problem.

From New York Times