page_title: Kyoto Protocol
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Kyoto Protocol / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Overview map of states committed to greenhouse gas (GHG) limitations in the first Kyoto Protocol period (2008-2012): Dark grey = Annex I Parties who have agreed to reduce their GHG emissions below 1990 levels. Grey = Annex I Parties who have agreed to cap GHG emissions at 1990 levels. Pale grey = Non-Annex I Parties; Annex I Parties with an emissions cap that allows their GHG emissions to expand above 1990 levels; Annex I Parties who are have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. EU-countries like Greece, Spain, Ireland and Sweden have not committed themselves to any reduction in the internal-EU distribution agreement, while France have been committed not to expand emissions (0% reduction). Greenland has only committed itself by being represented by Denmark. However Greenland has not committed itself to a reduction to Denmark.
context_page_description: The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and it is extremely likely that human-made CO₂ emissions have predominantly caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 parties to the Protocol.
  The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC to reduce the onset of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to "a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system". The Kyoto Protocol applies to the six greenhouse gases listed in Annex A: Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, and Sulphur hexafluoride.
context_section_description: The view that human activities are likely responsible for most of the observed increase in global mean temperature ("global warming") since the mid-20th century is an accurate reflection of current scientific thinking. Human-induced warming of the climate is expected to continue throughout the 21st century and beyond.
  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) have produced a range of projections of what the future increase in global mean temperature might be. The IPCC's projections are "baseline" projections, meaning that they assume no future efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The IPCC projections cover the time period from the beginning of the 21st century to the end of the 21st century. The "likely" range (as assessed to have a greater than 66% probability of being correct, based on the IPCC's expert judgment) is a projected increase in global mean temperature over the 21st century of between 1.1 and 6.4 °C.
  The range in temperature projections partly reflects different projections of future greenhouse gas emissions. Different projections contain different assumptions of future social and economic development (economic growth, population level, energy policies), which in turn affects projections of future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The range also reflects uncertainty in the response of the climate system to past and future GHG emissions (measured by the climate sensitivity).
caption: Overview map of states committed to greenhouse gas (GHG) limitations in the first Kyoto Protocol period (2008–12):[11]
     Annex I Parties who have agreed to reduce their GHG emissions below their individual base year levels (see definition in this article)   Annex I Parties who have agreed to cap their GHG emissions at their base year levels   Non-Annex I Parties who are not obligated by caps or Annex I Parties with an emissions cap that allows their emissions to expand above their base year levels or countries that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol 
   For specific emission reduction commitments of Annex I Parties, see the section of the article on 2012 emission targets and "flexible mechanisms".
   
   The European Union as a whole has, in accordance with this treaty, committed itself to a reduction of 8%.  However, many member states (such as Greece, Spain, Ireland and Sweden) have not committed themselves to any reduction while France has committed itself not to expand its emissions (0% reduction).[12]
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