| Introduction
The Kyoto Protocol (text of the KP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted on the 11th of December 1997. This treaty, which contains legally binding quantitative commitments for industrialised countries, only entered into force on 16 February 2005.
This was due to the complex procedure which was built into the text of the Protocol - to ensure widespread support. While 84 countries originally signed the treaty(and more are joining directly via ratification), signatures in themselves were not sufficient to turn the text of the agreement into international law. Two conditions had to have been met: Article 25 KP specifies that, in order for the Protocol to have entered into force:
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No less than 55 countries must have ratified the treaty. The act of ratification usually involves formal adoption at country level, meaning approval by the national Parliament and then an official letter to the depository of the treaty, in this case the UN, declaring ratification (click here for UN glossary).
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These minimum of 55 need to incorporate Parties listed as industrialised countries in Annex I of the UNFCCC, which together accounted in total for at least 55 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 of these industrialised countries (list with percentage shares here).
There are 161 parties to the treaty (incl. the European Community). The first condition was fulfilled on 23rd of May by the ratification of Iceland, but the vast majority up to that point had been by developing countries (then 52 countries). The second criterion was fulfilled, mainly with the shares of the European Union (24.2%-31st May) and Japan (8.5%- 4th June) plus countries from Central and Eastern Europe, Canada and Norway with Russia adding the final, crucial share in November 2004. Altogether, these countries represent 62% of 1990s CO2 emissions from Annex-I countries (see list with all percentages).
In March 2001, US President George W. Bush had declared that the United States of America would step away from the Protocol and were not prepared to ratify it. As the world's biggest emitter, their withdrawal dealt a significant blow to international efforts to fight climate change. However, the Kyoto Protocol has thereby become even more important. The US share of Annex I emissions of 36.4 % means that a big coalition of countries was needed to ensure that the Protocol entered into force (see example or download Greenpeace analysis on scenarios (pdf)). Finally, at the Climate Conference in Bonn in July 2001, Ministers from all over the world taking part in the high-level segment of the meeting forged a political compromise - without US participation. With the conclusion of the Bonn Agreement and its transfer into legal text in the Marrakech Accords, all Annex I countries were now in a position to ratify the Protocol and add their share towards the 55% threshold.
CAN Europe continues to critically monitor the process and its pace. For questions, please contact CAN Europe's Matthias Duwe.
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