Kyoto has become a synonym for global climate protection. In late 1997 in the Japanese city of Kyoto, governments agreed on the world’s first binding treaty to limit the greenhouse effect. The Kyoto Protocol took effect on February 16, 2005, and has now been ratified by the majority of the countries involved. The countries that have committed themselves to the climate-protection goals of Kyoto include all the EU member states, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and important developing nations like Brazil, China, India, and South Africa, among others. When the United Nations Climate Change Conference got underway in Bali in late 2007, Australia agreed to the Protocol as well. Different emissions limits apply to each country. Overall, the emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2 are to be reduced by five percent relative to 1990 levels by the year 2012.

The European environment ministers are already looking forward to the next stage. Once the Kyoto deadline passes, emissions of greenhouse gases are to be reduced by a total of 20 percent in the EU by 2020. Germany is playing a leading role in the effort to combat climate change. By 2020, the German Federal Government wants to reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 40 percent relative to 1990 levels, provided the EU raises the reduction target to 30 percent.