ABSTRACT
In order to address climate change, the United Nations formed the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the early 1990s. Most countries signed this treaty and pledged to consider reducing climate change and its impacts. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls for binding emission reduction targets for most developed countries – termed Annex I countries by the Protocol – was created as an extension of this treaty. The Protocol was to go into effect when 55 countries representing 55 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions had ratified it. The 55-country clause was met by 2002, but it was not until February of 2005, three months after Russia signed the Protocol, that the 55 per cent of the world’s emissions stipulation was met. The Protocol’s time frame is 2008–2012 for the 175 countries that had ratified it by April of 2008 [1].
