Ireland's legally binding pledges.
The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement, signed up to by most countries in the world, which sets specific limits on the amounts of greenhouse gases developed countries are allowed to emit.
Under its obligations, Ireland has to maintain its greenhouse gas emission levels to 13 per cent above 1990 levels, or just over 63 million tonnes a year. This figure becomes legally binding between 2008 and 2012.
The Government is required to cap the emissions that industry is allowed to produce. In order to provide flexibility, an emissions trading system has been created. This allows companies that exceed their individual caps to buy credits on the market from companies and countries which have achieved or exceeded their target reductions.
It is estimated that Ireland will overshoot the Kyoto target by more than seven million tonnes a year from 2008. To avoid fines, the Government has decided that it too will buy 3.7 million tonnes of credits a year, which will cost anywhere from €180 million to over 1 billion, depending on the price of carbon credits during the period.