Kyoto Protocol
Summary
Milestones
1972 Stockholm Declaration
1988 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
1992 UN Framewor Convention on Climate Change 1997 Byrd-Hagel Resolution
1997 Kyoto Protocol 2005 Kyoto Rulebook
United Nations Conference on
the Human Environment
Some Highlights
• protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue
• developing countries must direct their efforts to development, bearing in mind their priorities and the need to safeguard and improve the environment
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change
established 1988
joint program of the
World Meteorological Organization
and the United Nations
Mandate
Assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
Highlight
• Ultimate objective: stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous
interference with the climate system • Commitments of states
– publish inventories of sources & sinks – formulate & implement mitigation plans – promote scientific exchanges
Byrd-Hagel Resolution
US Senate, 1997
(non-binding, but passed 95-0)
• The U.S. will not enter into an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will be detrimental to the economy of the U.S.
Kyoto Protocol
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
negotiated in 1997
open for signature in 1998
• The Kyoto Protocol is a agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990
• Compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this target represents a 29% cut.
• The goal is to lower overall emissions from six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs - calculated as an average over the five-year period of 2008-12.
• National targets range from 8% reductions for the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland.“
• Sinks can be used to offset emission and emission credits can be traded.
• IPPC analyses used in assessments of sources and sinks
Why 10% increase for Iceland?
• In October, 2000 I (B. Menke) participated in a discussion with President Grimsson of Iceland, who was visiting LDEO. He said that because of
Iceland’s heavy reliance on geothermal and
hydroelectric energy, its per-capita emissions
US and Kyoto
US signed in 1998 (Clinton) but withdrew in in 2001
"The Kyoto Protocol was fatally flawed in
fundamental ways, but the process used to bring nations together to discuss our joint response to climate change is an important one …“
Bush’s Criticisms
emissions targets arbitrary and not based on science
protocol's binding limits on emissions could harm the U.S. economy
Kyoto Rule Book
December 2, 2005
• Defines how each country’s emissions and sinks (e.g. reforestation) are accounted
• Developed countries can invest in other developed countries and earn carbon allowances
• Establishes the Clean Development
Although every European country says that it supports ratification of Kyoto, none have explained what ratification means for their citizens and their economies. If they were so confident that these targets could be achieved at low cost with no
serious economic consequences, they would be more forthcoming with their plans and analyses.
The arguments for and against nuclear
power have changed somewhat over the years. Finland’s Minister of Trade and
Industry, Ms Sinikka Mönkäre, who is a Social Democrat and a physician, argues for the building of a new nuclear power plant because of Finland's climate
Why Greenpeace supports Kyoto
The Kyoto Protocol is the only global action plan against climate change. It's just the first step but the way forward is for countries to get on board and negotiate the next round of emissions
reduction targets.
The president's decision to pull out of the Kyoto
Protocol is going to cost U.S. energy technology companies millions of dollars. The international agreement will create a multibillion dollar market in the developing world for renewable energy
technologies, and the Germans and the
Japanese, participants in Kyoto, are going to have a leg up in that market.
Independent of politics, going after reducing CO2 makes real business sense because it usually means going after energy use.
The expansion of palm oil production* is one of the leading causes of rainforest destruction in south-east Asia. It is one of the most environmentally damaging commodities on the planet. Once again it appears we are trying to
solve our environmental problems by dumping them in developing countries, where they have devastating
effects on local people.
Simon Counsell Rainforest Foundation
