Formal international negotiations to address human-driven climate change were launched in December 1990. These negotiations yielded the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. The U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification of the agreement that same year. The UNFCCC entered into force on March 21, 1994. The UNFCCC provides a structure for international consideration of climate change. In particular, it divided countries into "Annex I countries," which are the high income countries listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC, and "non-Annex I parties," which are considered to be relatively low income countries as well as emerging markets. The UNFCCC does not set binding targets for greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions. The Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC (the Protocol) was negotiated as the first step towards implementing the UNFCCC. It establishes quantitative emission reduction targets for the high income countries listed in the Protocol's Annex B and market-based mechanisms, including emissions trading, for achieving those targets. The Protocol and decisions adopted under it also establish an elaborate compliance system. Prior to the conclusion of the Protocol on December 11, 1997, the Senate adopted a resolution expressing the view that the United States should not sign any agreement at Kyoto that would either commit developed, but not developing, nations to reduce or limit GHG emissions by a certain date or do "serious harm" to the U.S. economy. Nevertheless, the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol on November 12, 1998. Although, in 2001, President George W. Bush announced that the United States would not become a party to the Protocol, most other countries approved it, and it entered into force for its parties on February 16, 2005. The Protocol has not been submitted to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent to ratification. Recognizing that the emissions reductions for the Kyoto Protocol were set for a period that would end in 2012, the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in Bali adopted the "Bali Road Map" as a framework for negotiations over the post-2012 climate regime. In doing so, the parties established two tracks for negotiation: (1) a track by which Kyoto Protocol parties would pursue an amendment to the Protocol for a "second round" of emission targets for Annex I parties, and (2) a track by which UNFCCC parties would seek agreement on GHG mitigation targets or actions for all parties. This second "track" was called the Bali Action Plan, and the deadline for the conclusion of its negotiations was the December 2009 meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two-track structure of the negotiating process created uncertainty and disagreement over whether the goal at Copenhagen was to reach a single agreement under the UNFCCC that could replace the Kyoto Protocol, or, rather, two agreements, one under the Kyoto Protocol and the other under the UNFCCC. Perhaps because of this uncertainty, there were high expectations about what the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference might be, even though, in the months before the Conference, it became clear that a legally binding agreement was highly unlikely. At the Conference, the 193 delegations were unable to reach a consensus. Consequently, the Copenhagen Accord (the Accord) is the product of negotiations among a much smaller group of countries, including the United States, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. The Copenhagen Accord is the first U.N. document to explicitly set a goal for capping the rise of global temperatures. It establishes a process that allows each Annex I party to define its own GHG emissions target level. However, delivery of these reductions is subject to measurement, reporting, and verification in accordance with set guidelines. Non-Annex I parties wishing to associate with the Copenhagen Accord should identify and commit to undertaking "nationally appropriate" GHG "mitigation actions" (NAPAs). Those NAPAs for which international support is provided are subject to international measurement, reporting, and verification requirements. Most UNFCCC parties appeared willing to adopt the Accord, but adoption was blocked by Bolivia, Cuba, Sudan, and Venezuela. Consequently, the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP) "took note" of the text but did not adopt it. Willing countries are invited to "associate" with the Copenhagen Accord, but the Accord is not subject to signature. To indicate their intent to associate with the Accord, countries need only submit a letter or a note verbale (an unsigned diplomatic communication prepared in the third person) to the UNFCCC Secretariat. The United States submitted its note verbale to the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC on January 28, 2010 with a voluntary GHG emissions reduction target of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. Seventy-six of the 193 countries represented at the Copenhagen Conference, including China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa, have submitted GHG emissions targets or, as appropriate, NAPAs to the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. More countries are expected to follow suit despite missing the "soft" deadline for submissions of January 31, 2010. A variety of terms are used in the titles of international agreements, including treaty, convention, protocol, declaration, agreement, act, covenant, statute, concordat, and exchange of notes. Despite their air of formality, these terms are not dispositive of the agreement's legal status. Indeed, some writers suggest that names are assigned to treaties by chance or at the whim of their drafters. However, others have cataloged recurring titles of international agreements in an effort to identify patterns in their usage. These studies suggest that, while an agreement's title is not determinative of that agreement's substance or legal effect, it can help contextualize the agreement in light of historical practices. These studies suggest, for example, that the word "convention" typically refers to an agreement that defines or expands upon an area of international relations that is not necessarily fundamental to inter-state relations. In general, the distinguishing characteristic of conventions is their narrow scope. A convention typically addresses a single clearly determined object, although it may also complement other existing rights and obligations. The bulk of major multi-state agreements coordinated by an international organization like the United Nations are called "conventions." In addition framework conventions, like the UNFCCC, are generally understood in international environmental law as setting guidelines by which parties are expected to address an issue and the details for implementation which will be developed by subsequent, more specific, agreements. Unlike conventions, protocols are rarely foundational agreements in a field of inter-state relations. Instead, a protocol typically supplements, clarifies, interprets, or modifies the provisions of a primary instrument (most often a convention). Relative to "convention" and "protocol," the word "accord" has been used infrequently in the titles of international agreements and, consequently, does relatively little to suggest what the agreement it describes might have in common with previous international agreements. Nevertheless, when it is used, the word "accord" appears to indicate that the agreement is reciprocal, restricted in subject matter, and less formal than other types of agreements. Binding and non-binding agreements go by many names, but an agreement is considered binding only if it (1) conveys the intention of its parties to create legally binding relationships under international law and (2) has gone into force. Frequently, the intention of the parties to create legally binding relationships is expressed by the use of mandatory, rather than hortatory, language and the inclusion of "final clauses" relating to ratification, entry into force, and other legal formalities. Moreover, statements by the parties that an agreement is not legally binding, or that it invokes only political obligations, are generally evidence that the instrument is not a legally binding agreement. While some might wish there was a provision or turn of phrase that positively identified an international agreement as "binding," international law's emphasis on the parties' intent has roots in contract law, to which the law of treaties is sometimes compared. Accordingly, the Department of State adopts and expands upon this approach, deeming an agreement legally binding if it (1) is between parties that are states, state agencies, or intergovernmental organizations and who intend their undertaking to be both legally binding and governed by international law; (2) constitutes a significant undertaking or arrangement; (3) includes objective criteria for determining enforceability; and (4) necessarily entails two or more parties so that it is not unilateral in nature. Despite the apparent obliqueness of relying on the parties' intent at all, in most cases, the parties' intent, and therefore the legal nature of the agreement, is clear. Although legally binding agreements are often touted for being stronger than non-legal agreements, the latter have certain advantages. For example, agreements that are not legally binding can generally be negotiated, adopted, and changed more quickly (largely because they do not require ratification), and they enable states to test and perfect an approach to an international problem that they are unsure how to best address. In order for the United States to become bound by an international agreement, it must first complete the steps necessary to become a party. When the United States seeks to enter an agreement by way of treaty, a three-step process must occur before the agreement can become the "Law of the Land." First, the United States must sign the treaty; second, the agreement must be submitted by the Executive to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent to treaty ratification and two-thirds of the Senators present must give their approval (sometimes inaccurately referred to as "ratification by the Senate" ); and third, the President must ratify the agreement by following the terms of the agreement for ratification or accession. International agreements generally require parties to exchange or deposit instruments of ratification in order for them to enter into force. In some instances, the United States may enter legally binding international agreements by means other than treaty.