CITIZEN ACT - saison 2011-2012The Kyoto Protocol

CITIZEN ACT – SEASON 2011-2012

SOCIETE GENERALECITIZEN ACT

The Kyoto Protocl

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THE KYOTO PROTOCOL

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_ What is the Kyoto Protocol ?

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The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement whose aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Signed in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11 1997, it came into force on February 16 2005 and had been ratified by 184 countries by 2010.

The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is that while the Convention encouraged industrialised countries to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.

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 _ Starting Point

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• The Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio marked the international awareness of the risk of climate change. The richest states, where a decline in growth seemed more bearable and were also responsible for the highest emissions, had pledged in 2000 to stabilise emissions at 1990 levels.

• It was the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 that translated this pledge into legally-binding quantitative commitments.

• The signatory countries agreed to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% over the period 2008-2012, compared to 1990 levels.

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 _ The Kyoto mechanisms

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To make it easier to achieve these targets, on top of the policies and measures they have to implement nationally, the Kyoto Protocol offers these countries the possibility of achieving them by way of three flexible mechanisms:

• International Emissions Trading: this mechanism allows emissions to be bought or sold between industrialised nations;

• Joint Implementation: this allows developed countries to carry out investments aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions beyond their national borders and to benefit from emission credits generated by the reductions thus obtained;

• Clean Development Mechanism: similar to the previous mechanism, but with investments carried out in a developing country.

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 _ The greenhouse gases identified by the Protocol

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There are 5 types of gas taken into consideration by the Kyoto Protocol in the battle against climate change:

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which mainly comes from the burning of fossil fuels and from deforestation;

• Methane (CH4), whose main source is ruminant livestock, rice cultivation, landfills for garbage and oil and gas operations;

• Hydrofluorocarbons and Perfluorocarbons (HFC and PFC) are refrigerant gases used in air-conditioning systems, and are also used as aerosol propellants;

• Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a result of the use of nitrogenous fertiliser and some chemical processes;

• Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is, for example, used in electric transformers.

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 _ Monitoring emission targets

Under the Protocol, countries’ actual emissions have to be registered and reported.

The UN Climate Change Secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, keeps an international transaction log to verify that transactions are consistent with the rules of the Protocol.

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 _ Adaptation

The Kyoto Protocol, like the Convention, is also designed to assist countries in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change.

It facilitates the development and deployment of techniques that can help increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The Adaptation Fund was established to finance adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is financed mainly with a share of proceeds from CDM project activities.

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The Kyoto Protocol is generally seen as an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime that will stabilise greenhouse gas emissions, and provides the essential architecture for any future international agreement on climate change.

By the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, a new international framework needs to have been negotiated and ratified that can deliver the stringent emission reductions the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly indicated are needed.

 _ The road ahead

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 _ Sources 

- Planethic

- Nations Unies

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