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

---

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.

---

Discover More

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

Example Sentences

We could have had our beef and eaten it too if we'd followed the agreements laid out in the Kyoto Protocol, but we're now at a point where food emissions also need to fall to avoid the worst of climate change.

From Science Daily

However he has had rows with the US in the past, criticising their decision to leave an earlier climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, when he was head of the IPCC.

From BBC

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

When the playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson were looking for ideas for a new production, they stumbled upon a radio show about the negotiations that led to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

From New York Times