The Kyoto Protocol ( Kp )

The UNFCCC was established in 1994 to address climate change at an international level. Since then, the parties to the convention (including the EU) meet annually in Conferences of the Parties. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) set an obligation for developed countries to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, through setting national targets, using 1990 as a base level. The UK has been one of only a few countries to comply with the international obligation and has reduced GHG emissions since 1990.

The UNFCCC is working with the various governments around the world to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere to keep the planet from warming more than 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures (Watts, 2015). The most noted of the work is the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings that began with COP1 in Berlin back in 1995. The COP3 adopted the Kyoto Protocol, even though it wasn’t fully accepted by all member nations. The COP21 was an effort to legally bind members to their submitted plans of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), defining what level of greenhouse gas production each nation would commit to not exceeding from 2025-2030. Prior to the INDCs, a bleak outlook was forecast in 2009-2010 of global temperature rising between 4-5ºC. That figure was restated by the UNFCCC prior to the COP21 in Paris, to below 3ºC, due to the commitments of the INDCs (Watts, 2015).

In 2013, the Obama Administration issued the Climate Action Plan to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 % reduction below 2005 levels by 2020. This plan’s three objectives were carbon reduction, strengthening capacity for climate change response, and leading international cooperation for climate change crisis (White House, 2013). To reduce the

The advent of industrialized civilization has brought to us many remarkable feats that enhance our everyday lives. Such things as automobiles, airplanes, tractors, mainframe computers, and even relatively simple machines like lawnmowers have intertwined themselves into the everyday culture of modern day industrialized countries.. These products have provided us enormous benefits compared to the types of lives our ancestors used to live. In the eyes of some, the consequences of industrial activities that have evolved around the world will not pose any problems in the future, however as most have realized, this is not true. Contemporary production processes use fossil fuels such as

Its adoption in 1997 and ratification in 2002 furthered the fight against anthropogenic interference with earth’s climate system. Canada’s commitment began with a goal to reduce GHGs by 6% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012, or 461 megatons (Canada and the Kyoto Protocol 2016). In order to achieve these goals, legal requirements expected policies and measures prepared by the participating countries to reduce GHGs, by utilizing all available mechanisms, including joint implementation to earn emissions reduction units (ERU) to be counted towards the target, the clean development mechanism and emissions trading (Kyoto Protocol 1997). Every year, on the date set forth, every participating country was expected to keep track of emissions limits and performance standards, develop spending or fiscal measures, as well their expectation for the next year and results from the previous (E. Canada 2013). When the first reduction timeline was up in 2008, instead of a decrease in emissions, Canada recorded an increase 24.1 percent higher than 1990 levels. The lack of commitment was superseded by the new government’s ‘Made in Canada” effort to push country-unified laws, though no significant changes were

In 1997, The Kyoto Protocol was adopted to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (EPA, n.d.). In spite of the international treaty, half of participating nations, including Canada failed to reducing its Co2 emissions (Clark, D., 2012, November 26).

Indeed, if we accept the danger of global warming to be a real and present one, then the question of how to address it must be given serious consideration. Research conducted from as early as the 1950s through the present has afforded us a solid understanding of its causes. In the most basic sense, the problem lies in the burning of carbon-based fossil fuels such as carbon and oil which leads to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). Gases such as CO2 are referred to as greenhouse gases (GHGs) which accumulate in the atmosphere. GHGs can

On December 15, 2011, the Government of Canada authoritatively told the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that Canada would practice its legitimate right to formally pull back from the Kyoto Protocol. The Environment Minister, Peter Kent, was the one who announced this. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement connected to the UNFCCC that sets internationally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets for each country that is in the agreement. There are a lot of benefits as to why Canada should stay in the agreement, but at the same time there are a few complications and setbacks that we will have to face as well. Canada will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases, save money and create jobs, and reduce drastic

“The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a)

According to an article focused on environmental awareness, “the world’s average surface temperature rose by approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit, the fastest rate in any period over the last 1000 years” (Source A). Damage has already been done to the environment but it is not the time to throw our hands up, it is the time for leaders in all sectors to tackle this issue head on. We know that carbon dioxide is the culprit, so now it is imperative to implement the solution and take a hard look at who is producing the most greenhouse gases. Big changes need to take place but they can only be done in steps and not all at once to be effective. In an excerpt from a book about global warming, Mark Maslin brings up the point that many feel the Kyoto Protocol does not go far enough; scientists believe that a 60% cut of greenhouse gas emissions is necessary in order to “prevent major climate change” (Source E). A sixty percent cut of emissions should be what countries work up to achieving but first and foremost, every country needs to agree to the Kyoto Protocol guidelines. The Kyoto Protocol itself should not be viewed as the end in the discussion of greenhouse gas restrictions, but rather the first stepping stone to a much broader and effective

The Republic of South Africa signed the Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 31 July, 2002 as a non-annex I party. Therefore, South Africa, like all other developing countries has not been allocated specific targets to commit to under the protocol. At the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) negotiations that took place in Copenhagen in 2009 (UNFCC, 2009), South Africa took the responsibility to carry out mitigation actions to reduce their emissions 34% by the year 2020, and 42% by the year 2025, below the business as usual trajectory (Voster, Winkler and Meagan, 2011 p.243). However, this pledge is subject to the provision and assistance of adequate, capacity building, financial and technological support from other developed countries.

After the objectives and the methodologies are agreed upon, the programme design will decide on sectors, sources and gases that the programme covers. Generally, major economic sectors such as energy, industrial processes, land-use change, agriculture, and waste disposal are considered for the GHG emission. Similarly, the

Each nation has their own individual targets. The average target was a cut of roughly 5%, in comparison to the levels in the atmosphere in 1990 and 2012 (The Guardian, 2012). Some countries have a different approach to the protocol than others. An example of this is the United States, which is yet to ratify the protocol and also happens to be the second largest total emitter (second to China) and largest emitter per capita of greenhouse gases in the world (M.

The specific goal that the developed countries have to meet is to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by around 5% below their 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012 and the amounts may

it should exclude the baseline. A project is additional, as far as emissions reduction is concerned, if it produces measurable, verifiable and sustainable greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to participation in a CDM project, parties must meet the following three fundamental eligibility criteria: voluntary participation in the CDM, the establishment of a national CDM authority, and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Moreover, as established under article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries must meet other requirements: a national system for estimation of greenhouse gases, a 2 national registry, an annual inventory, and an accounting system for the sale and purchase of emissions reductions.