• The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement, reached in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, which set targets and timetables for reductions in future greenhouse gas emissions by each developed country.
• The protocol extends the commitments of signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce these gases. However many countries, including the US, have yet to ratify it.
• The main target is for an average 5.2 per cent reduction in industrialised countries' 1990 emissions by the year 2012, to slow global warming due to the greenhouse effect. The reductions are not the same for all countries however, and depend on the degree of economic development, population, climate and size.
• Ireland ratified the Kyoto Protocol on May 31st, 2002, along with the EU and all other members. The State agreed to a target limiting its greenhouse gas emissions to 13 per cent above 1990 levels by the first commitment period 2008-'12, as part of its contribution to the overall EU target.
• The Government has also introduced a National Climate Change Strategy, including emissions trading. It is widely expected to announce the introduction of a tax on fossil fuels in the forthcoming budget as part of this strategy.
• Greenhouse gases are caused by, among other things, burning fuels to run cars and provide heat for our homes, businesses and industries. Burning fossil fuels such as petrol, diesel, oil, coal, peat and gas leads to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere. Other gases are released as a result of activities in the agricultural, industrial and waste sectors.