The Kyoto Protocol

Toward the end of the 90s, global climate change was becoming an issue. The United Nations recognized this growing concern in the world and came up with the Kyoto Protocol. It was a plan for all countries to come together and reduce the carbon emissions. The Kyoto Protocol was developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control. The Kyoto Treaty has cut emissions on Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Hydro fluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons and Sulphurhexafluoride. In December of 1997, the treaty was created to encourage more responsible emitting of greenhouse gas emissions. On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol became ratified. The reason for the long amount of time putting the plan into motion was because 55 countries were required to sign the treaty and those countries had to have taken up at least 55% of the global greenhouse for the treaty to be put into effect.

In order to promote teamwork in reducing emissions, a program was implemented where participating countries continuously meeting below the target could trade "credits" for currency. This is an effective incentive to stay below the target. The overall target of the Kyoto Protocol was to drop emissions 5.2% lower in 2012 than in 1990. Almost every country in the world has signed the agreement, which signifies a group understanding of the current and future conditions of the world.

There were 169 countries that signed the treaty. Australia and the US were the only two developed countries that did not ratify the agreement up until 2007. Australia eventually ratified the treaty when the new prime minister came into office. It is worthy to note that the US is the biggest emitter of Carbon Dioxide. The US alone is the reason for approximately 25% of the world's greenhouses gases. The US turned down the ratification of the treaty two times, once in 1997 and another in 2001.