One of the main tools of the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism, will reduce carbon emissions by a billion tonnes by the end of 2012, the end of the present Kyoto commitment period, the UN has claimed.

“We have crossed an important threshold with these reductions”, said Richard Kinley, the secretariat’s acting head. “It is now evident that the Kyoto Protocol is making a significant contribution towards sustainable development in developing countries”. Pitty the same cannot be said of the Kyoto Protocol in the most importer developed country for emissions: the US.