Background to the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement on climate change which was adopted on December 11, 1997 and entered into force on February 16, 2005. 190 parties have ratified the Protocol to date which means they have given a commitment to implement the terms of the Protocol into national legislation.
The Protocol stated that industrialized countries are principally responsible for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from 150 years of industrialized activity and therefore placed a heavier burden on industrialized countries under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve binding emissions reduction targets for greenhouse gasses set against 1990 emission levels. These reductions amount to an average of 5% over the period 2008 to 2012.
The Kyoto Protocol also put in place two mechanisms to assist developing countries and economies in transition in the development of non-fossil fuel based economies. These mechanisms are the “Clean Development Mechanism” and “Joint Implementation”. Under these mechanisms, industrialized countries may invest in clean technology in developing countries and economies in transition. The carbon savings resulting from the introduction of clean technology and the reduction of GHG from business as usual levels are converted into carbon credits which can then be sold into the international market.
To facilitate the sale of carbon credits, the Kyoto Protocol put in place a framework for international carbon trading.
The Kyoto Protocol set emissions reductions targets for the period 2008 to 2012. It anticipated further negotiations to set emissions reductions targets for subsequent years, and it is these negotiations that are taking place in Copenhagen from December 7-18, 2009.
Scientific, Legal and Economic Developments since Kyoto
Much has changed since 1995. We have seen the continued economic development of Eastern Europe and the alignment of environmental and climate change laws across Western and Eastern European countries as Eastern European Countries join the European Union.
The acronym ‘BRIC’ is used to refer to Brazil, Russia India and China and it came into common usage in 2001 as these countries were increasingly referred to collectively as they experienced rapid economic growth. None of the BRIC countries are currently required to make emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol.
The science of climate change is more settled now than it was 15 years ago. There is widely accepted evidence that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are resulting in climate change. In 2007 the 4th Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal.
As the science advanced, projections about the consequences of climate change become bleaker. In October 2006, Lord Stern produced an influential report for the British Government in which he examined the economic impacts of climate change and explored the economics of stabilizing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. He concluded that strong early action on climate change considerably outweighed the costs. He concluded that 1 % of global GDP per annum is required to be invested to avoid the worst effects of climate change and failure to do so could risk global GDP being up to 20% lower than it might otherwise be. In June 2008 Stern increased the estimate to 2% of GDP to account for scientific developments which indicated faster than expected climate change.
