Kyoto protocol

Laxmaiah sir classes

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the third Conference of
the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 3) in Kyoto, Japan, on 11
December 1997. The Protocol shares the objective and
institutions of the Convention.
The Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations
under the principle of ìcommon but differentiated
responsibilities.î The Kyoto Protocol entered into force on
16 February 2005. 192 Parties have ratified the treaty to
date.
Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the
European Community have committed to reducing their
emissions by an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels
over the five-year period 2008-2012.
For this group of countries, reductions of 11% are projected
for the first Kyoto commitment period from 2008 to 2012,
provided policies and measures planned by these countries
are put in place (see Annex).
The three Kyoto mechanisms are: Emissions Trading ñ
known as ìthe carbon marketî ñ the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI). The
carbon market spawned by these mechanisms is a key tool
in reducing emissions worldwide. It was worth 30 billion
USD in 2006 and is set to increase.
The Kyoto Protocol, like the Convention, is also designed to
assist countries in adapting to the inevitable effects of
climate change and facilitates the development of
techniques that can help increase resilience to climate
change impacts.
The Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete
adaptation projects and programmes in developing
countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is
to be financed with a share of proceeds from CDM project
activities and receive funds from other sources.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that extends
the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific
consensus that global warming is a an existential threat to
the human race.
The Kyoto Protocol came into effect on 16 February 2005.
This international treaty seeks to implement the objectives
of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) to combat global warming by decreasing
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
The major greenhouse gases that are addressed are :
• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Methane (CH4)
• Nitrous oxide (N2O)
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
• Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
In December 2012, after the first commitment period of
the Protocol ended, participating countries in the Kyoto
Protocol met in Doha, Qatar to adopt an amendment to the
original Kyoto agreement.
This was called the Doha Amendment which added new
emission-reduction targets for the second commitment
period, 2012–2020, for these countries.
In 2015, at the sustainable development summit held in
Paris, all UNFCCC participants signed yet another pact,
the Paris Climate Agreement, which effectively replaced
the Kyoto Protocol.
• The UNFCCC was an international agreement held in
1992 in which member countries agreed to reduce
greenhouse gas concentrations in the earth’s
atmosphere in order to prevent devastating climate
change. This was, however, not binding on the
members, and no specific targets were set.
• By 1995, the countries, understanding the need for a
stricter demand on greenhouse reduction, began
negotiating on a protocol that was based on the
UNFCCC but would be a standing agreement in its own.
• The Kyoto Protocol extends the UNFCCC and makes
members commit to a specific reduction target. The
text of the protocol was unanimously adopted on 11
December 1997. It entered into force in February
2005. Currently, there are 192 parties to the protocol.
• The protocol gives specific target cuts in the emission
levels of greenhouse gases of member countries and
makes it binding.
• However, only developed countries have binding
targets based on the (accurate) premise that they
have had a historically larger share in the emission of
pollutants due to the antecedence of industrialisation
in those countries compared to developing economies.
• This is based on common but differentiated
responsibility.
• These targets are bet ween -8% and +10% of the
countries’ 1990 emission levels.
• In order to make the ‘binding targets’ more acceptable,
the protocol provides flexibility in how countries meet
the targets. Countries are allowed to partially
compensate for the emissions by increasing what are
called ‘s inks’, i.e., forests. This is because forests reduce
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Most nations have ratified the treaty. The USA is a notable
exception to this. It takes the stand that having binding
targets only for developed countries and not polluting
countries like China and India is potentially harmful for its
own economy. Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in
2012.
• The targets are for the following greenhouse gases/
gas groups: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane,
sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and
perfluorocarbons.
• The first commitment period for the agreement was
from 2008 to 2012.
• Apart from national measures, the agreement has
three mechanisms that are means to achieve the Kyoto
targets:
◦ International Emissions Trading
◦ Clean Development Mechanism
◦ Joint Implementation
• India is a non-Annex I country. India is exempt from
the treaty’s framework. The Indian government
ratified the treaty in August 2002.
• Since the per capita emission rates are much smaller
for developing countries compared to the developed
countries, India takes the stand that the major
responsibility of reducing emissions lies with the
latter.