• Raul Estrada, chairman of the third Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3), shakes hands with Japan's environment chief, Hiroshi Oki, as the Kyoto Protocol is adopted in the ancient capital in December 1997. | KYODO
    Raul Estrada, chairman of the third Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3), shakes hands with Japan's environment chief, Hiroshi Oki, as the Kyoto Protocol is adopted in the ancient capital in December 1997. | KYODO
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On Dec. 11, 1997, representatives from over 150 nations gathered in Kyoto to hammer out what would become the world’s first international agreement to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide.

In a marathon nearly two-week negotiating session that ran into the early morning hours of the day after the conference was supposed to end, and following a quick fly-in visit by U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who urged all sides and especially the United States to compromise, a deal was struck.

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