The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and that human-made CO2 emissions are driving it. The protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997, and entered into force on February 16, 2005. The main goal of the Kyoto Protocol was to control emissions of the main anthropogenic (human-emitted) greenhouse gases (GHGs) in ways that reflect underlying national differences in GHG emissions, wealth, and capacity to make the reductions.

The Kyoto Protocol sets binding emission reduction targets for 37 industrialized countries and economies in transition and the European Union. The targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol cover emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

The Kyoto Protocol recognized that developed countries are principally responsible for the high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity. As such, the protocol placed a heavier burden on developed nations compared to less-developed nations.

The Kyoto Protocol was created in response to concerns surrounding climate change. The treaty was an agreement between developed nations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The protocol was effectively replaced by the Paris Agreement, which went into effect in 2016.

The Kyoto Protocol had significant impacts on U.S. energy markets and the U.S. economy. Meeting the U.S. targets under the Protocol called for significant market adjustments. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected that meeting the U.S. targets under the Protocol would call for significant market adjustments.