International Protocol

for environment and energy

What’s a PROTOCOL

Why to call it a protocol ?

An environmental protocol is a type of
international law,
Not the following
• Plan “An intergovernmental document intended as
legally binding with a primary stated purpose of
• Policy
preventing or managing human impacts on
• Program natural resources.”
• project Dictionary meaning: the original draft of a diplomatic document, especially of
the terms of a treaty agreed to in conference and signed by the parties.
• Law
If political realities, international debates
• The world's existing political systems pose
barriers to the creation of environmental
protocols.

• First, maintenance of sovereignty means that

no country can be forced to participate, only
urged to do so. Consequently, as French
states, "International law has the force of
moral suasion, but few real teeth.“

• Second, North-South conflict can block

cooperation: the countries in the global
South generally see the countries of the
North as needing to take responsibility for
environmental degradation and make
significant changes in their way of living,
neither of which the North deems
reasonable.
When did it all started?

• 2nd world war & Cold war

• Economic depression
• “Silent spring” by Rachel Carson
• Tragedy of commons
When did it all started?

United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in

Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16 in 1972.

Some argue that this conference, and more importantly the

scientific conferences preceding it, had a real impact on the
environmental policies of the European Community (that later
became the European Union). For example, in 1973, the EU created
the Environmental and Consumer Protection Directorate, and
composed the first Environmental Action Program.
Such increased interest and research collaboration arguably paved
the way for further understanding of global warming, which has led
to such agreements as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement,
and has given a foundation of modern environmentalism.
When did it all started?

• The meeting agreed upon a

Declaration containing 26
principles concerning the
environment and
development; an Action Plan
with 109 recommendations,
and a Resolution.
• The Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi in her seminal
speech in the conference
brought forward the
connection between
ecological management and
poverty alleviation.
Sustainable Development

• Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland

Report, from the United Nations World Commission
on Environment and Development (WCED) was
published in 1987.
• The publication of Our Common Future and the work
of the World Commission on Environment and
Development laid the groundwork for the convening
of the 1992 Earth Summit and the adoption of
Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration and to the
establishment of the Commission on Sustainable
Development.
Sustainable Development
The Brundtland Commission's mandate was to:

• “ re-examine the critical issues of environment and development

and to formulate innovative, concrete, and realistic action
proposals to deal with them;
• strengthen international cooperation on environment and
development and to assess and propose new forms of
cooperation that can break out of existing patterns and influence
policies and events in the direction of needed change; and
• raise the level of understanding and commitment to action on
the part of individuals, voluntary organizations, businesses,
institutes, and governments” (1987: 347). “The Commission
focused its attention in the areas of population, food security, the
loss of species and genetic resources, energy, industry, and human
settlements - realizing that all of these are connected and cannot
be treated in isolation one from another”
Sustainable Development
An oft-quoted definition of sustainable development is
defined in the report as:

"development that meets the needs of

the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet
their own needs."
Sustainable Development
• The United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED),
also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth
Summit , Rio Summit, Rio Conference, and
Earth Summit was a major United Nations
conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to
14 June 1992.
• 172 governments participated, with 116
sending their heads of state or
government. Some 2,400 representatives
of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
attended, with 17,000 people at the
parallel NGO "Global Forum", who had
Consultative Status.
Sustainable Development
• Systematic scrutiny of patterns of production
— particularly the production of toxic
components, such as lead in gasoline, or
poisonous waste including radioactive
chemicals
• Alternative sources of energy to replace the
use of fossil fuels which delegates linked to
global climate change
• New reliance on public transportation systems
in order to reduce vehicle emissions,
congestion in cities and the health problems
caused by polluted air and smoke
• The growing usage and limited supply of water
Sustainable Development
• An important achievement of the summit was
an agreement on the Climate Change
Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto
Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
• Another agreement was to "not to carry out
any activities on the lands of indigenous
peoples that would cause environmental
degradation or that would be culturally
inappropriate".
• The Convention on Biological Diversity was
opened for signature at the Earth Summit, and
made a start towards redefinition of measures
that did not inherently encourage destruction
of natural ecoregions and so-called uneconomic
growth.
The Earth Summit resulted in the following
documents:
1. Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development
2. Agenda 21
3. Forest Principles
Moreover, important legally binding agreements
(Rio Convention) were opened for signature:
1. Convention on Biological Diversity[5]
2. Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)
3. United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification
Sustainable Development
• Agenda 21 is a non-binding, voluntarily
implemented action plan of the United Nations with
regard to sustainable development.
• It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference
on Environment and Development) held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.
• It is an action agenda for the UN, other multilateral
organizations, and individual governments around
the world that can be executed at local, national,
and global levels.
• The "21" in Agenda 21 refers to the 21st Century. It
has been affirmed and had a few modifications at
subsequent UN conferences.
Montreal protocol
• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of
the Ozone Layer) is an international treaty designed to protect the
ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous
substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.

• A Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal

Protocol is to assist developing country parties to the Montreal
Protocol whose annual per capita consumption and production of
ozone depleting substances (ODS) is less than 0.3 kg to comply with
the control measures of the Protocol.
• Currently, 147 of the 196 Parties to the Montreal Protocol meet
these criteria (they are referred to as Article 5 countries).
Montreal protocol
• Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it
has been hailed as an example of exceptional
international co-operation, with Kofi Annan quoted as
saying that "perhaps the single most successful
international agreement to date has been the
Montreal Protocol".
• These truly universal treaties have also been
remarkable in the expedience of the policy making
process at the global scale, where bare 14 years lapsed
between a basic scientific research discovery (1973)
and the international agreement signed.
• Policy experts have advocated for increased efforts to
link ozone protection efforts to climate protection
efforts. Policy decisions in one arena affect the costs
and effectiveness of environmental improvements in
the other.
Kyoto Protocol
• The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits
State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that,
• global warming exists and
• human-made CO2 emissions have caused it.
• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and
entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 parties to the
Protocol.
Conference of the Parties
• The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC Parties (Conference of the Parties, COP) to assess
progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto
Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse
gas emissions.
• From 2005 the Conferences have also served as the "Conference of the Parties Serving as the
Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" (CMP)
Conference of the Parties
1995: COP 1, The Berlin Mandate
1996: COP 2, Geneva, Switzerland
1997: COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change
1998: COP 4, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1999: COP 5, Bonn, Germany
2000: COP 6, The Hague, Netherlands
2001: COP 6, Bonn, Germany
2001: COP 7, Marrakech, Morocco
2002: COP 8, New Delhi, India
2003: COP 9, Milan, Italy
2004: COP 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005: COP 11/CMP 1, Montreal, Canada
2006: COP 12/CMP 2, Nairobi, Kenya
2007: COP 13/CMP 3, Bali, Indonesia
2008: COP 14/CMP 4, Poznań, Poland
2009: COP 15/CMP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010: COP 16/CMP 6, Cancún, Mexico
2011: COP 17/CMP 7, Durban, South Africa
2012: COP 18/CMP 8, Doha, Qatar
2013: COP 19/CMP 9, Warsaw, Poland
2014: COP 20/CMP 10, Lima, Peru
2015: COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France
2016: COP 22/CMP 12, Marrakech, Morocco
Conference of the Parties
1997: COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

COP 3 took place in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. After intensive

negotiations, it adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which outlined the
greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for Annex I countries,
along with what came to be known as Kyoto mechanisms such as
emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint
implementation.

Most industrialized countries and some central European economies

in transition (all defined as Annex B countries) agreed to legally
binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of an average of 6 to
8% below 1990 levels between the years 2008–2012, defined as the
first emissions budget period.
Conference of the Parties
2001: COP 6, Bonn, Germany
Flexible mechanisms: The "flexibility mechanisms" which the
United States had strongly favored when the Protocol was
initially put together, including emissions trading, joint
implementation (JI), and the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) which allows industrialized countries to fund emissions
reduction activities in developing countries as an alternative to
domestic emission reductions.

Carbon sinks: It was agreed that credit would be granted for

broad activities that absorb carbon from the atmosphere or
store it, including forest and cropland management, and re-
vegetation, with no over-all cap on the amount of credit that a
country could claim for sinks activities.
Conference of the Parties
2001: COP 6, Bonn, Germany
Compliance: Final action on compliance procedures and
mechanisms that would address non-compliance with Protocol
provisions was deferred to COP 7, but included broad outlines
of consequences for failing to meet emissions targets that
would include a requirement to "make up" shortfalls at 1.3 tons
to 1, suspension of the right to sell credits for surplus emissions
reductions, and a required compliance action plan for those not
meeting their targets.
Conference of the Parties
2001: COP 6, Bonn, Germany
Financing: There was agreement on the establishment of three
new funds to provide assistance for needs associated with
climate change:
(1) a fund for climate change that supports a series of climate
measures;
(2) a least-developed-country fund to support National
Adaptation Programs of Action; and
(3) a Kyoto Protocol adaptation fund supported by a CDM levy
and voluntary contributions.
Conference of the Parties
2009: COP 15/CMP 5, Copenhagen, Denmark
The overall goal for the COP 15/CMP 5 United Nations
Climate Change Conference in Denmark was to
establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the
period from 2012 when the first commitment period
under the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The conference did not achieve a binding agreement

for long-term action.

The accord was notable in that it referred to a

collective commitment by developed countries for new
and additional resources, including forestry and
investments through international institutions, that will
approach USD 30 billion for the period 2010–2012.
Conference of the Parties
2015: COP 21/CMP 11, Paris, France
• Holding the increase in the global average • On 1 April 2016, the United States and China,
temperature to well below 2 °C above pre- which together represent almost 40% of
industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the global emissions, issued a joint statement
confirming that both countries will sign the
temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial
Paris Climate Agreement.
levels, recognizing that this would significantly
reduce the risks and impacts of climate change; • 175 Parties (174 states and the European
• Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse Union) signed the treaty on the first date it
impacts of climate change and foster climate was open for signature.
resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions
development, in a manner that does not threaten • Non-binding commitments, lack of
food production; enforcement mechanisms
• Making finance flows consistent with a pathway • Institutional investors' contribution to
limiting fossil fuels
towards low greenhouse gas emissions and
climate-resilient development."
Clean Development Mechanism
• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the
Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol (IPCC, 2007)
that provides for emissions reduction projects which generate
Certified Emission Reduction units (CERs) which may be traded
in emissions trading schemes.
• The CDM, defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, was
intended to meet two objectives:
• to assist parties not included in Annex I in achieving
sustainable development and in contributing to the
ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is to
prevent dangerous climate change; and
• to assist parties included in Annex I in achieving
compliance with their quantified emission limitation
and reduction commitments (greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission caps).
Clean Development Mechanism
• The CDM addresses the second objective by allowing the
Annex I countries to meet part of their emission
reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol by
buying Certified Emission Reduction units from CDM
emission reduction projects in developing countries.
• Both the projects and the issue of CERs units are subject
to approval to ensure that these emission reductions are
real and "additional."
• The CDM is supervised by the CDM Executive Board
(CDM EB) under the guidance of the Conference of the
Parties (COP/MOP) of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Clean Development Mechanism
• Overall efficiency
• The risk of fraud
• Exclusion of forest
conservation/avoided deforestation
from the CDM
• Reasons for including avoided
deforestation projects in the CDM
• Coal thermal power generation in
India and China
• Industrial gas projects
Nuclear proliferation
Chernobyl disaster
• The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the Chernobyl
accident or simply Chernobyl, was a catastrophic nuclear
accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Pripyat, then located in
the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union
(USSR).
• An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive
particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of
the western USSR and Europe.
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
• 11 March 2011, immediately after the earthquake, the
active reactors automatically shut down their sustained
fission reactions.
• However, the tsunami destroyed the emergency generators
cooling the reactors, causing reactor 4 to overheat from the
decay heat from the fuel rods.
• The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns and
the release of radioactive material beginning on 12 March.
Several hydrogen-air chemical explosions occurred between
12 March and 15 March.
Nuclear proliferation
• Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons,
fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear
technology and information to nations not recognized as
"Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the
Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or NPT.
• Proliferation has been opposed by many nations with and
without nuclear weapons, the governments of which fear
that more countries with nuclear weapons may increase the
possibility of nuclear warfare (up to and including the so-
called "countervalue" targeting of civilians with nuclear
weapons), de-stabilize international or regional relations, or
infringe upon the national sovereignty of states.
• Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
(CTBTO) is an international organization that will be
established upon the entry into force of the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, a Convention that outlaws nuclear
test explosions.
International Atomic Energy Agency
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an
international organization that seeks to promote the
peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use
for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.
• The IAEA was established as an autonomous
organization on 29 July 1957.
• Though established independently of the United
Nations through its own international treaty, the
IAEA Statute, the IAEA reports to both the United
Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
•Peaceful uses: Promoting the peaceful
uses of nuclear energy by its member
states,
•Safeguards: Implementing safeguards to
verify that nuclear energy is not used for
military purposes, and
•Nuclear safety: Promoting high
standards for nuclear safety.
New START
• New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a
nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United
States of America and the Russian Federation with
the formal name of Measures for the Further
Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.
It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague and, after
ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011.
• It is expected to last at least until 2021.
• Under terms of the treaty, the number of strategic
nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. A
new inspection and verification regime will be
established, replacing the SORT mechanism.
• It does not limit the number of operationally inactive
stockpiled nuclear warheads that remain in the high
thousands in both the Russian and American
inventories.
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
• Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group of nuclear
supplier countries that seek to prevent nuclear
proliferation by controlling the export of materials,
equipment and technology that can be used to
manufacture nuclear weapons.
• The NSG was founded in response to the Indian nuclear
test in May 1974.
• In July 2006, the United States Congress amended U.S.
law to accommodate civilian nuclear trade with India. A
meeting of NSG participating governments on 21–22
August 2008 on an India-specific exemption to the
Guidelines was inconclusive.
Trans Border conflicts and agreements