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The Kyoto Protocol Summary - A Quick Guide To Understanding It
This is a quick guide to understanding it. So you want to have some grasp of the essence of the Kyoto Protocol but don’t have the time to digest it in all its detail? This Kyoto Protocol Summary may be just what you need. You may find more on the Kyoto Treaty here. Fair enough. Not "having enough time" is a symptom of our age prompting us to find greater alternate energy sources to do work for us. This is in turn a cause of global warming. President Obama To Sign The Kyoto Treaty? Before you go on, just pause for a moment... Barack Obama has said his administration will spend $150 Billion on development of renewable energy and technology. The USA is the last to hold out on signing the Kyoto Treaty. The first act of the Australian Rudd Government was to sign it. Will President Obama sign it? No, not while there is such an uneven commitment to reducing enforceable greenhouse gas emission cuts. Copenhagen failed miserably when India and China did not play ball. For the moment Kyoto is all we have - till 2014. And it's completely inadequate as a mechanism towards greenhouse gas emission cuts that will save the world from significant effects of global warming. The Kyoto Protocol tries to stimulate you and I to think more responsibly about that and the fossil fuels we use. What kind of energy we use, how, and how much we use is important for our survival and wellbeing of the planet Earth. Read this Kyoto Protocol Summary. Here is the Kyoto Protocol Summary—no frills.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement between countries, worldwide, to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are a major cause of global warming. And global warming affects everything. Colder climates in some parts. Hotter, drier climates in others. Rising sea levels, water shortages, loss of bio diversity, and so on. The Kyoto Protocol is an effort to curb these, and other, effects. Of course I cannot tell you more than this in a Kyoto Protocol Summary only.
At 18th April, 2006, 168 countries have signed the Kyoto Treaty At 3rd December, 2007, 175 countries have signed the Kyoto Treaty.
The Kyoto Protocol was first open for signature to countries willing to participate, on 11th December, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. Of course negotiations began long before that date but this is all that needs to be said in the Kyoto Protocol Summary I think.
It came into force on 16th February, 2005.
In summary, the Kyoto Protocol knows three categories.
The Kyoto Protocol requires 55 industrialised countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to target levels 5.2% below that of 1990. If unable to, they must buy emission credits from countries that are under these levels. Further, it provides that developed countries pay for costs of developing countries. Developing countries have no requirements under the Protocol. They may sell emission credits and receive funds and technology from Annex II countries for climate-related studies and projects. Many Annex I and Annex II countries overlap.
No. Some targets for some countries are higher than for others, depending on their emission status. For instance, the emission cut target for the European Union is set at 8% and 7% for the USA. Australia and Iceland are permitted to increase their emission by respectively 8% and 10%. Russia has a 0% target, due to its declined industrial output since the collapse of the USSR.
No. Notable exceptions remains the USA as a major emitter of greenhouse gases. Australia signed the Treaty on the 3rd December 2007, hours after the swearing in of the new Rudd Labor government, as its first governing act.
Well, not having the USA ratify the Kyoto Protocol is a big problem as the USA also roughly contributes a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases. A number of countries have not so far met the Kyoto Protocol emission targets. Even if it did, current projections call for the need of much bigger cuts in emissions than the Kyoto Protocol requires. The United Nations now predict a rise of 10% in greenhouse emissions since 1990.
The Kyoto Protocol is a unique international initiative that recognises the dire environmental straits that we are in. Its processes seem painfully slow and its results small against daily reports of serious global warming effects. However its symbolic value may be its greatest asset. Any effort is better than none and if governments are slow, people everywhere are doing what they can do. Recycling, green power, wearing a jumper rather than turning up the heater, and so on. Some local governments are not waiting for their national governments to come to the party and introduce their own individual carbon trading schemes or offer incentives for solar heating. Draw up your own list of what you can do. But, remember, no amount of recycling, or technological wizardry alone can deliver a sustainable world. Getting on with each other can. Living well within the inevitable limits, dependency and fragility that are part of life, is a Appreciate this Kyoto Protocol Summary?
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