365 Days of Climate Awareness 81 - The Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a greenhouse gas emissions treaty under the umbrella of the1992 UNFCCC. It was negotiated in 1997 and came into force in 2005, after an extended ratification period. Though 197 countries are party to it, the agreement specifies greenhouse gas emissions for 37 countries (“Annex I” countries), which at the time of ratification accounted for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions (the United States, China, India, and Brazil are not among them).

The Protocol is divided into two Annexes. Annex I includes developed countries (including those with Economies In Transition--EIT--that is, in the process of joining the European Union) which have emissions targets. Annex II countries have developing economies hand have signed on to the treaty's general goals but do not have specific emissions targets.

The treaty operates on voluntary country-by-country greenhouse gas emissions relative to a 1990 baseline. There are two cycles of the Protocol: 2008-12, and via the Doha Amendment, 2013-2020. The Doha Amendment was never ratified, however, though a number of countries have informally followed it. On average Annex I nation parties pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5% every cycle. The treaty has nominally been a success, but the situation is a bit more complicated.

The 37 Annex I parties together averaged more than a 22.6% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below baseline by 2012. However, much of that reduction was due to Russia's economic collapse in the late 90's, and not to substantive changes in the developed economies. Canada in particular failed to meet its objective. Asian nations were not included, and the United States did not ratify it. Global greenhouse gas emissions rose steeply during the cycle. On the expiration of first pledge cycle, not all original nation parties committed to the second.

The treaty includes the concept of carbon trading, where two nation parties, or a bloc such as the European Union, may allow trading of budgeted emissions. One party which is below its emissions target is allowed to grant the difference to another party, if mutually agreed on. In this way the EU met its collective emissions target even though several individual countries failed to meet their own. Though no significant legislation in the US has addressed the climate change crisis, cap-and-trade is one of the fundamental concepts when it is discussed.

The Kyoto Protocol has yielded in importance to the Paris Accord, which is now involved in its first global stocktaking.

Tomorrow: cap-and-trade legislation.

Be brave, and be well.