International Law and China : Treaty system

Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

WHAT IS KYOTO PROTOCOL

ANNEX A & B
ARTICLE 25, 26: RATIFICATION
KYOTO THERMOMETER
POST KYOTO
[TIMELINE]
1979 First world Climate Conference
1987 Montreal Protocol signed in Montreal
1990 Second World Climate Conference
1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) signed at UN
Conference on Environmental and Development in Rio de Janeiro
1995 First session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCCC (for
ratifying States) in Berlin (COP1) ; Berlin Mandate established
1996 COP2, Geneva
1997 Meetings of the Ad hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM)
1997 COP3, Kyoto
2005 COP11 & MOP1, Montreal ; Montreal Action Plan (MAP)
2007 Washington Declaration
What is Kyoto Protocol ?

an amendment to the international treaty on climate

change, assigning mandatory targets for the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations

Only Parties to the Convention that have also become

Parties to the Protocol will be bound by the Protocol’s
commitments.
(by ratifying, accepting, approving, or acceding to it)

168 countries and one regional economic integration

organization (the EEC) have ratified the Protocol to date.
The text of the Protocol to the UNFCCC was adopted at the third session of the Conference of the Parties to
the UNFCCC in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997;

Open for signature from 16 March 1998 to 15 March 1999 at United Nations Headquarters

By that date the Protocol had received 84 signatures.

Those Parties that have not yet signed the Kyoto Protocol may accede to it at any time.

The Protocol is subject to ratification, acceptance, approval or accession by Parties to the Convention.
 [PRINICPLE
S]
Article 3 (1), Kyoto Protocol

The Parties included in Annex I shall, individually or jointly, ensure that

their aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of the
greenhouse gases listed in Annex A do not exceed their assigned
amounts, calculated pursuant to their quantified emission limitation and
reduction commitments inscribed in Annex B and in accordance with
the provisions of this Article, with a view to reducing their overall
emissions of such gases by at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels in the
commitment period 2008 to 2012.
[ANNEX A]
The targets cover emissions of
the six main greenhouse gases,
namely:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2);

• Methane (CH4);
• Nitrous oxide (N2O);
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs);
• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs); and
• Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
[ANNEX B]
 [The Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms]
The Protocol allows developed countries to reach their targets in
different ways through “Flexibility Mechanism”

• Joint Implementation (JI)

• Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• Emission Trading (ET)

maximize the cost-effectiveness of climate change

mitigation by allowing Parties to pursue opportunities to cut emission

enhance carbon sinks, more cheaply abroad than

at home.
[RATIFICATION of Kyoto Protocol]
Entered into force  on 16 February 2005

Article 25 (1), Kyoto Protocol

This Protocol shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date
on which not less than 55 Parties to the Convention, incorporating
Parties included in Annex I which accounted in total for at least 55
per cent of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 of the
Parties included in Annex I, have deposited their instruments of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.
 RATIFICATION

Ratification defines the international act whereby a state in

dicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties in
tended to show their consent by such an act. In the case of b
ilateral treaties, ratification is usually accomplished by ex
changing the requisite instruments, while in the case of mult
ilateral treaties the usual procedure is for the depositary t
o collect the ratifications of all states, keeping all partie
s informed of the situation. The institution of ratification
grants states the necessary time-frame to seek the required a
pproval for the treaty on the domestic level and to enact the
necessary legislation to give domestic effect to that treaty.

[Arts.2 (1) (b), 14 (1) and 16, Vienna Convention on the Law
of Treaties 1969]
 ACCESSION / ACCEPTANCE / APPROVAL

"Accession" is the act whereby a state accepts the offer or the opportunity to
become a party to a treaty already negotiated and signed by other states. It has the
same legal effect as ratification. Accession usually occurs after the treaty has
entered into force.
[Arts.2 (1) (b) and 15, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969]

The instruments of "acceptance" or "approval" of a treaty have the same legal

effect as ratification and consequently express the consent of a state to be bound
by a treaty. In the practice of certain states acceptance and approval have been
used instead of ratification when, at a national level, constitutional law does not
require the treaty to be ratified by the head of state.

[Arts.2 (1) (b) and 14 (2), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969]

ARTICLE 26, Kyoto Protocol
No reservations may be made to this Protocol.
Reservation
A reservation is a declaration made by a state by
which it purports to exclude or alter the legal effect
of certain provisions of the treaty in their
application to that state.
A reservation enables a state to accept a
multilateral treaty as a whole by giving it the
possibility not to apply certain provisions with
which it does not want to comply.
Reservations can be made when the treaty is
signed, ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to.
Reservations must not be incompatible with the
object and the purpose of the treaty. Furthermore, a
treaty might prohibit reservations or only allow for
certain reservations to be made.
[Arts.2 (1) (d) and 19-23, Vienna Convention of
the Law of Treaties 1969]
Distribution of emissions of GHG between Annex 1 countries
(in percentage of Total Pollution in 1990)

Canada 3,3% TP

EU 29,8% TP 41,6%TP

Japan 8,5% TP

Russia 17,4% TP

USA 36,1% TP

Annex 1 Total 100%

• The U.S. is the world’s single-largest source of CO 2 emissions, accounting for 36% in
1990.
• As such, U.S. ratification would clearly push the Kyoto thermometer above the 55%
threshold and thus, bring the Protocol into force.
• However, in March of 2001 President George W. Bush steadfastly rejected the Kyoto
Protocol citing the “fact” that, “[T]he Kyoto treaty would severely damage the United
States’ economy…”
 pic is not relevant
to kyoto treaty

Russia’s Ratification
Vladimir Putin approved the treaty on November 4, 2004 a
nd Russia officially notified the United Nations of its
ratification on November 18, 2004.
"We'll toast the Duma with vodka tonight," Greenpeace climate p
olicy adviser Steve Sawyer said
 Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol
Calculation in chronological order Share of 1990 Cumulative
2001 ratifications (Romania and Czech Republic) 2.48 2.48
Iceland (23rd May) 0.02 2.50
Norway (30th May) 0.26 2.76
Slovakia 0.42 3.18
European Union (15 members) (31st May) 24.23 27.41
Japan (4th June) 8.55 35.96
Latvia (5th July) 0.17 36.13
Bulgaria (15th August) 0.60 36.73
Hungary (21st August) 0.52 37.25
Estonia (14th October) 0.28 37.53
Poland (13th December 2002) 3.02 40.55
Canada (17th December 2002) 3.33 43.88
New Zealand (19th December 2002) 0.19 44.07
Switzerland (Mid 2003) 0.32 44.39
Russia (November 2004) 17.40 61.79 > 55
 [ Kyoto thermometer ]

Sept 2004 Nov 2004

55 %

Russia
Europe
Europe
Japan
Japan
Canada…
Canada…

No of signatories % of emissions No of signatories % of emissions

 [POST KYOTO / 2012]
Continuity : Montreal Action Plan + Washington Declaration
Change
Additional regional agreements between non-Parties
Replacement

‘MAP for the future’

Stéphane Dion, Former Minister of Envi
ronment of Canada comments on