KYOTO PROTOCOL

Brief History-KYOTO PROTOCOL

1979 The first World Climate Conference (WCC) takes place.

1988 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set up.

1991 First meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) takes place. 1992 - An international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is established at the Rio Summit. Other conventions adopted are UNCBD and UNCCD.

 1994 UNFCCC enters into force.

1995 The first Conference of the Parties (COP 1) takes place in Berlin.

1996 The UNFCCC Secretariat is set up to support action under the Convention. 1997 Kyoto Protocol formally adopted in December at COP3.

 2005 Entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. The first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP 1) takes place in Montreal.
2012 - The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol is adopted by the CMP at CMP8.

Kyoto Protocols Objectives

Ratifying countries have committed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6. The goals of Kyoto were to see participants collectively reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% below the emission levels of 1990 by 2012.

Works on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

The Mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol

Apart from national policy measures, countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol can meet their targets through three market-based mechanisms: Emissions Trading The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Joint Implementation (JI)

Emissions Trading and the Carbon Market

Parties with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Parties) have accepted targets for limiting or reducing emissions. These targets are expressed as assigned amount units (AAUs). Emissions trading, as stated in Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol, allows countries that have surplus emission units to sell this excess capacity to countries that are over their targets.

 Thus, a new commodity was created in the form of emission reductions or removals. Since carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas, people speak simply of trading in carbon, although other GHGs are included in this.

Carbon is now tracked and traded like any other commodity. This is known as the "carbon market."

Other trading units in the carbon market

The other units which may be traded under the scheme, each equal to one tonne of CO2, may be in the form of: A removal unit (RMU) on the basis of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities such as reforestation An emission reduction unit (ERU) generated by a joint implementation (JI) project A certified emission reduction (CER) generated from a clean development mechanism (CDM) project activity

The commitment period reserve

In order to address the concern that Parties could "oversell" units, and subsequently be unable to meet their own emissions targets, each Party is required to maintain a reserve of ERUs, CERs, AAUs and/or RMUs in its national registry.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, allows a country with an emission-reduction or emissionlimitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Party) to implement an emissionreduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.

Joint Implementation (JI)

The mechanism known as joint implementation, defined in Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol, 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 emissionreduction 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.

 Joint implementation offers Parties a flexible and cost-efficient means of fulfilling a part of their Kyoto commitments, while the host Party benefits from foreign investment and technology transfer.

Web References http://unfccc.int/essential_background/items/6 031.php