The Kyoto Protocol came into force
The Kyoto Protocol is an international document signed in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997. The Kyoto Protocol extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that committed developed or transition economies to reduce or stabilize greenhouse gases emissions between 2008 and 2012 compared to the 1991 level. The State Parties to the Protocol agreed that (a) global warming exists and (b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it. The Kyoto Protocol is the first international document using market mechanisms to solve global environmental problems. This is so-called the trading of quotas, which are permissions to emit. If a country does not use its quota up it can cede or sell the excess part to another country. Another opportunity the Kyoto Protocol offers is that developed or transition economies can develop joint projects to reduce greenhouse gases in one or the other country and then share the effect achieved between 2008 and 2012 by dividing the emission reduction units between themselves. Such projects came to be known as joint implementation.