Legal provisions of COM(2023)686 - EU’s Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (greenhouse gas emissions, climate change)

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier COM(2023)686 - EU’s Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (greenhouse gas emissions, climate ...
document COM(2023)686
date October 31, 2023

Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol

This Report and the accompanying Staff Working Document constitute the European Union Report on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (‘the Kyoto Protocol’), for the second commitment period (2013-2020) of the Kyoto Protocol (hereinafter referred to as the true-up period), as required under Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 525/20131, in accordance with the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol2.

They will be transmitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) by 24 October 2023.


The information contained in the Report will facilitate the assessment of compliance of the European Union (EU) with its commitments under Article 3(1) of the Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period. This assessment will be based on the comparison of the quantity of units valid for the second commitment period retired by the end of the true-up period with the aggregate emissions for the second commitment period. The additional period for fulfilling commitments ended on 9 September 2023.


The EU, its Member States and Iceland have agreed to fulfil their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments under Article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol jointly, in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 thereof3. The EU, its Member States and Iceland agreed to a quantified emission reduction commitment that limits their average annual emissions of greenhouse gases during the second commitment period to 80 % of the sum of their base year emissions, which is reflected in the Doha Amendment.


Council Decision (EU) 2015/13394 sets out the terms of the joint fulfilment agreement as well as the respective emission levels of each Party to that agreement. The emission levels define the Member States’ and Iceland’s assigned amounts for the second commitment period. These emission levels have been determined on the basis of the existing Union legislation for the period 2013-2020 under the ‘Climate and Energy package’5.

The joint assigned amount of the EU, its Member States and Iceland for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is equal to the percentage inscribed for the Union, its Member States and Iceland in the third column of Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol as replaced by the Doha Amendment (80 %) of its base year emissions multiplied by eight.

In accordance with Article 4(4) of the Kyoto Protocol, the United Kingdom withdrawal from the EU on 1 February 2020 does not affect the commitments under the second commitment period.


The joint assigned amount resulting from this calculation is 37 604 433 280 tonnes of CO2-eq6. The assigned amount of the EU is determined in line with the terms of the joint fulfilment agreement and equals 15 813 089 338 tonnes of CO2-eq7. The agregated assigned amounts of the Member States and Iceland is 21 791 343 942 tonnes of CO2-eq.


Retirement of Kyoto Units

The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by the EU, at that time the European Community, and its Member States on 31 May 2002. At the Doha Climate Change Conference in December 2012, parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted the Doha Amendment, establishing a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, starting on 1 January 2013 and ending on 31 December 2020 (‘the Doha Amendment’). The Union, its Member States and Iceland notified the terms of the agreement to fulfil jointly the commitments of the EU, its Member States and Iceland under Article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol in the second commitment period in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 thereof.8 At the time of agreement the following 28 countries were Member States: the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Estonia, Ireland, the Hellenic Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Republic of Croatia, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese Republic, Romania, the Republic of Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The total cumulative number of tonnes of CO2eq to be retired under the joint fulfilment is calculated as the sum of the quantity of tonnes of CO2eq in the retirement accounts in the registries of the EU, the 27 Member States, the United Kingdom and Iceland, and it amounts to 33,731,035,055 tonnes of CO2-eq.


Carry-over of Kyoto Units

As there is no third commitment period foreseen under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU will not request to carry-over units.

The total quantity of units in the Member States holding accounts requested to be carried over by the Member States will be reported in the Member States' reports on the additional period for fulfilling commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

1 Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting other information at national and Union level relevant to climate change and repealing Decision No 280/2004/EC, OJ L 165, 18.6.2013, p. 13–40.

2 Decisions 5/CMP.1, 13/CMP.1, 15/CMP.1, 22/CMP.1, 27/CMP.1, 1/CMP.8, 1/CMP.17, 3/CMP.11 and 4/CMP.11.

3 FCCC/KP/CMP/2012/13/Add.1

4 Council Decision (EU) 2015/1339 of 13 July 2015 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the joint fulfilment of commitments thereunder, OJ L 207, 4.8.2015. p. 1-14.

5 Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the Community and Decision No 406/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community’s greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020, OJ L 140, 5.6. 2009.

6 FCCC/IRR/2016/EU

7 FCCC/IRR/2016/EU

8 FCCC/KP/CMP/2012/13/Add.1

EN EN