The Kyoto Protocol was intended to cut the greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries to 5 per cent less than they were in 1990, and this was to be achieved by the end of 2012. As that deadline approaches it is time to take stock of what has actually happened. There is some good news and some bad news: The bad news is that political solutions to mitigate global warming lack the ambition to deliver what the scientists demand—a limit on the increase in temperature of 28C.