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Kyoto in peril
Posted by Montreal Environment in Climate Change
Human contributions to increased levels of greenhouse gases (GHG), causing global warming, and subsequently climate change, have been scientifically proven and (rather grudgingly) politically accepted at the international level. In the Brundtland Report of 1987, for the first time the environment is linked with morality and ethics in public debate. Today, the role of government, industry and citizens in climate change policy development and implementation has transformed even more. To safeguard our grandchildren’s economic, environmental and social well-being, we can no longer continue to destroy life on earth through our addiction and inefficient misuse of fossil fuels. The environmental, social and economic impacts of a 2.6°C increase in temperature by 2050 may tip the balance in favor of irreversible and vastly costly consequences.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was ratified by 189 countries in 1994, was the first concerted global effort to tackle climate change. The Kyoto Protocol, a UNFCCC treaty addition, agreed upon in 1997 and ratified by 171 Parties in 2005, is the first legally binding international agreement setting targets to reduce GHG emissions. EU’s 15 full member states prior to the 2004 accession and most of the new adhering states of the Eastern European Block have a reduction target of 8% from 1990 levels; 6% for Canada; and 7% for the United States, even though it has not ratified the Protocol, but it has a target as agreed under the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Twenty years later the future of the Kyoto Protocol is in peril as its expiration date, 2012, looms closer. In the wake of the next G8 Summit to be held in Germany, the UN-hosted talks this week come to a grinding halt, once again. At stake is the extension and strengthening of the Kyoto Protocol which should take place In Bali, Indonesia in December. The US, which has not ratified the Protocol, is excluding the possibility of amending the Protocol’s parent treaty UNFCC, a necessary step for Kyoto’s extension.
Contention arises over the role of developing countries in cutting emission, which under the Protocol are exempt from specific targets. The extension would include China, India and the US agreeing on emission targets, but chief U.S. negotiator Harlan Watson told Reuters “Certainly it would be premature [to amend the UNFCC]“. Japan’s chief climate negotiator, Mutsuyoshi Nishimura sees little hope for negotiations: “You need all major emitters to join in, including India, China and the United States[…]I’m really, really pessimistic that those conditions are going to be met. I have low expectations of kicking off negotiations in Bali”. Nevertheless, there is some hope as Brazil and South Africa are willing to negotiate for developing countries to take on commitments, but as China rightfully put it: “Developing countries need assistance in technology and financial resources from developed countries”.
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