World Bank | Kyoto Protocol Funds

The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was an international climate change agreement adopted on December 11, 1997, to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. To support this effort, the World Bank established the Prototype Carbon Fund and rapidly added several other carbon funds between 2002 and 2011. While the first generation of carbon funds has now closed, this website provides information on the funds, their projects, and the lessons learned from the experience.

Our History

Logo of Carbon Finance world bank. Carbon finance unit. The world bank.

Five years before the Kyoto Protocol entered into force, the World Bank and its partners in the Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) established the first global carbon fund in 2000 to create demand for carbon credits and to gain experience in Kyoto Protocol project-based mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI). These mechanisms, along with subsequent carbon funds and facilities, helped catalyze a nascent market for emission reductions which has since seen dramatic changes.

Methodologies

A major initiative of the Climate Fund Management Unit was innovating and developing new tools and methodologies including 42 approved methodologies across a wide range of sectors, mostly in the Clean Development Mechanism.