The Kyoto Protocol and Marrakesh Accords, adopted by CMP 1 in Montreal, Canada, in December 2005, include a set of monitoring and compliance procedures for the first commitment period (2008–2012) to enforce the Protocol’s rules, address any compliance problems, and avoid any error in calculating emissions data and accounting for transactions under the three Kyoto mechanisms (emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint implementation) and activities related to land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).

For the second commitment period (2013–2020), in a process referred to as “Implications of the implementation of decisions 2/CMP.7 to 4/CMP.7 and 1/CMP.8 on the previous decisions on methodological issues related to the Kyoto Protocol, including those relating to Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol (5,7&8 implications) the CMP adopted a series of decisions that builds upon the CMP.1 decisions and introduced the necessary updates to operationalize monitoring and compliance. Please click here for a user-friendly document for the reporting, accounting and review requirements for Parties included in Annex I for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol’s monitoring procedures are based on existing reporting and review procedures under the Convention (decisions 24/CP.19 and 13/CP.20), building on experience gained in the climate change process over the past decades. They also involve additional accounting procedures that are needed to track and record Parties’ holdings and transactions of Kyoto Protocol units: assigned amount units (AAUs), certified emission reductions (CERs), emission reduction units (ERUs) and removal units (RMUs).

The table below shows the main decisions on accounting, reporting and review of emissions and removals and assigned amounts.

For more information about the rulebook for the first commitment period (2008–2012) please click here.

Main data sources for the rules on accounting, reporting and review of emissions and removals and accounting of assigned  amounts

The process to develop and agree on the guidelines

Developing and agreeing on the guidelines was an enormous amount of detailed work that took place over several years. Below you will find the main steps of that process: the Marrakesh Accords (COP 7, 29 Oct – 10 Nov 2001), the following five COP meetings (COP 8 in 2002 in New Delhi; COP 9 in 2003 in Milan; COP 10 in 2004 in Buenos Aires; and COP 11 in 2005 in Montreal), and the CMP.1 (2005 in Montreal) where all the decisions were formally adopted at the first meeting of the Parties (please click here for more information about the COP and the CMP). 

COP 7 and Marrakesh Accords

At COP 7, Parties reached agreement on the details of Articles 5, 7 and 8. The accounting and reporting and review systems set out in the Marrakesh Accords aim to be transparent so that all data, except those designated as confidential, are to be made publicly available. At the conclusion of COP 7 some sections of the guidelines under Articles 7 and 8 were not completed, mainly because of the need to ensure coherence with other decisions.

In addition, the COP requested the SBSTA to develop technical standards for the purpose of ensuring the accurate, transparent and efficient exchange of data between national registries, the clean development mechanism registry and the transaction log.

COP 8, COP 9, COP 10 and COP 11

During these COPs Parties finalized the remaining work of the guidelines under Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Kyoto Protocol.

CMP 1

CMP 1 held in Montreal, Canada, in November-December 2005 adopted the Marrakesh Accords as well as the draft CMP decisions that were negotiated after COP 7.