After lengthy and exhausting negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) was adopted by the Third Conference of the Parties to that convention (COP 3) in December 1997. Because, for the first time in history, this protocol contains legally binding reduction targets for all major greenhouse gases, it represents a major step forward in international efforts to avert the threat of climate change. The parties adopted differentiated targets for industrialized countries for the period 2008-2012 averaging 5.2 percent. They also adopted several novel “flexibility instruments,” including joint implementation, emissions trading, and a new clean development mechanism for project-based cooperation with developing countries.
