The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that aimed to reduce carbon dioxide CO2 emissions and the presence of greenhouse gases GHG in the atmosphere. The essential tenet of the Kyoto Protocol was that industrialized nations needed to lessen the amount of their CO2 emissions. The protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan in , when greenhouse gases were rapidly threatening our climate, life on the earth, and the planet, itself.
Today, the Kyoto Protocol lives on in other forms and its issues are still being discussed. The Kyoto Protocol mandated that industrialized nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the threat of global warming was growing rapidly.
It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on December 11, , and became international law on February 16, Countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol were assigned maximum carbon emission levels for specific periods and participated in carbon credit trading.
If a country emitted more than its assigned limit, then it would be penalized by receiving a lower emissions limit in the following period. Developed, industrialized countries made a promise under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their annual hydrocarbon emissions by an average of 5. Targets, though, depended on the individual country. This meant each nation had a different target to meet by that year.
The Kyoto Protocol recognized that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than years of industrial activity. As such, the protocol placed a heavier burden on developed nations than less-developed nations.
Developing nations were asked to comply voluntarily, and more than developing countries, including China and India, were exempted from the Kyoto agreement altogether. The protocol separated countries into two groups: Annex I contained developed nations, and Non-Annex I referred to developing countries. The protocol placed emission limitations on Annex I countries only.
Non-Annex I nations participated by investing in projects designed to lower emissions in their countries. For these projects, developing countries earned carbon credits , which they could trade or sell to developed countries, allowing the developed nations a higher level of maximum carbon emissions for that period. In effect, this function helped the developed countries to continue emitting GHG vigorously. The United States, which had ratified the original Kyoto agreement, dropped out of the protocol in The U.
Global emissions were still on the rise by , the year the Kyoto Protocol became international law—even though it was adopted in Things seemed to go well for many countries, including those in the EU. They planned to meet or exceed their targets under the agreement by But others continued to fall short. The United States and China—two of the world's biggest emitters—produced enough greenhouse gases to mitigate any of the progress made by nations who met their targets.
In December , after the first commitment period of the Protocol ended, parties to the Kyoto Protocol met in Doha, Qatar, to adopt an amendment to the original Kyoto agreement. This so-called Doha Amendment added new emission-reduction targets for the second commitment period, —, for participating countries. The Doha Amendment had a short life. The Paris Climate Agreement is a landmark environmental pact that was adopted by nearly every nation in to address climate change and its negative effects.
The agreement includes commitments from all major GHG-emitting countries to cut their climate-altering pollution and to strengthen those commitments over time. A major directive of the deal calls for reducing global GHG emissions so as to limit the earth's temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels while taking steps to limit the increase to 1.
Joint implementation JI. These mechanisms ideally encourage GHG abatement to start where it is most cost-effective, for example, in the developing world. It does not matter where emissions are reduced, as long as they are removed from the atmosphere. This has the parallel benefits of stimulating green investment in developing countries and including the private sector in this endeavour to cut and hold steady GHG emissions at a safe level.
It also makes leap-frogging—that is, the possibility of skipping the use of older, dirtier technology for newer, cleaner infrastructure and systems, with obvious longer-term benefits—more economical. The Kyoto Protocol also established a rigorous monitoring, review and verification system, as well as a compliance system to ensure transparency and hold Parties to account.
Under the Protocol, countries' actual emissions have to be monitored and precise records have to be kept of the trades carried out. Registry systems track and record transactions by Parties under the mechanisms. The UN Climate Change Secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, keeps an international transaction log to verify that transactions are consistent with the rules of the Protocol. Reporting is done by Parties by submitting annual emission inventories and national reports under the Protocol at regular intervals.
A compliance system ensures that Parties are meeting their commitments and helps them to meet their commitments if they have problems doing so. Adaptation The Kyoto Protocol, like the Convention, is also designed to assist countries in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change. It facilitates the development and deployment of technologies that can help increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Finally, the Joint Implementation mechanism allows a country with an emission reduction or limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol Annex B Party to earn emission reduction units ERUs from an emission-reduction or emission removal project in another Annex B Party, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting its Kyoto target.
After the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ended in December , parties to the Protocol met in Doha, Qatar, to discuss an amendment to the original Kyoto agreement. The Doha Amendment added new targets for the second commitment period, The Paris Agreement was adopted by nearly every nation- states and the EU- in to address the negative effects of the climate crisis.
Commitments were made from all major GHG-emitting countries to cut their emissions and strengthen these commitments over time. It was arguably the first time that most of the world agreed to pursue a common cause. A major directive of the agreement is to cut GHG emissions so as to limit global temperature rise in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while taking steps to limit this to 1. In , many countries, including those in the EU, planned to meet or exceed their targets under the agreement by The US dropped out of the agreement in , calling the treaty unfair because it mandated only developed countries to reduce emissions, and felt that doing so would hinder the US economy.
Talks have been marred by politics, money, lack of leadership and lack of consensus. GHG emissions are still rising, and countries are not addressing them quickly enough. Nearly nations attend and adopt the first international treaty on managing and reducing greenhouse gases. July 23, — Negotiators from countries meet in Germany and agree to adopt the protocol, without the participation of the US.
November 10, — Representatives from countries meet in Marrakech, Morocco, to work out details of the protocol. November 18, — The Russian Federation ratifies the protocol.
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