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This paper aims to present, from the perspectives of Germany and Japan, some of the major issues facing the international community in reaching agreement on the Kyoto Protocol and its implementation. It also provides the background leading up to the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Berlin Mandate, and the Kyoto Protocol. Although the protocol was finally signed by all participating countries (except a few) after long, protracted negotiations, the Berlin Mandate, the legally-binding minimum targets set forth for reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2008 to 2012, and the priorities given to domestic solutions over external measures provided some countries, notably the United States, an excuse for rejecting the protocol. During the subsequent international negotiations Germany took a lead in pushing the hard-line European Union position, while Japan tried to mediate between the European Union and the soft-line United States position to bring the two sides closer together in an attempt to bring the United States back into the protocol, get it ratified by as many signatory countries as possible, and put into effect as soon as possible. The paper concludes that while the protocol's fate appears to have ended up in the hands of Russia, the greatest hurdle for GHG emissions reduction lies ultimately in the extent to which the governments of developed countries and European economies in transition can convince their citizens, corporations, and other entities to meet those targets within the prescribed time limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany is the leader among countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in reducing its emissions of the Kyoto basket of greenhouse gases (GHGs), having accomplished an emissions reduction of 18.9 percent from 1990 to 2000. This paper aims to explain the reasons for this success and to examine the impacts of the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol on the development of Germany's climate policy. In order to identify the factors that determined this outcome, we divide our examination of the policy process in Germany since 1987 into five periods and will evaluate it with a focus on policy measures implemented and actors as well as the institutions involved. It concludes that domestic factors, including the participation of the Greens in the coalition government, mainly determined Germany's success in developing advanced climate policies and measures to reduce its GHG emissions. The paper also highlights the importance of the linkage of climate policy with other policies, which provided incentives to those who would otherwise have opposed or remained neutral on the development of climate policy. As such, the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol did not have a direct impact on climate policy development in Germany, but it did have an indirect impact in that it triggered the development of common and coordinated policies and measures at the European Union (EU) level in order to achieve its quantified GHG reduction target of 8 percent committed to under the Kyoto Protocol, as seen in the introduction of an EU-wide emissions trading scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]