Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate

Change
 Rationale
Mandating industrialized nations to reduce their carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions and the presence of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere at a time when the threat of global
warming was growing rapidly and also to prevent
dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system.
 Description
The objective was to reduce the onset of global warming by reducing
greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to a level that would
prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

It applied to the six greenhouse gases listed in Annex A: carbon dioxide

(CO2), Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
 Historical Background
1992 The UN Conference on the Environment and Development is held in Rio de Janeiro
resulting th UNFCCC

1995 Parties to the UNFCCC meet in Berlin to outline specific targets on emissions.
1997 In December the parties conclude the Kyoto Protocol in Kyoto, Japan, in which they agree
to the broad outlines of emissions targets.

2004 Russia and Canada ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC bringing the treaty into
effect on 16 February 2005.

2011 – Canada became the first signatory to announce its withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.

2012 – The first commitment period under the Protocol expired.

 Purposes and Principles
The Kyoto Protocol is based on the principles and provisions of the
Convention and follows its annex-based structure. It only binds developed
countries, and places a heavier burden on them under the principle of
“common but differentiated responsibility and respective
capabilities”
 Article 2:
The ultimate objective of the Convention. To achieve its quantified emission
limitation and reduction commitments under Article 3 and to implement
policies and measures under this Article in such a way as to minimize adverse
effects of climate change especially developing country Parties and in
particular those identified in Article 4.
 Article 3 & 4:
The Parties in Annex I shall observe their aggregate anthropogenic carbon
dioxide equivalent emissions of the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A and
should not exceed their assigned amounts in calculated percentage or the
quantified emission limitation in Annex B, and to reduce their overall
emissions by at least five percent below or equal to the level of their emissions
in the base year 1990.
 How many signatories?
Is Philippines a signatory?

Yes. The Philippines signed on April 15, 1998

 How significant is said treaty to the Philippines?

Philippines is abundantly fortunate for having a diverse ecology. However, with the
growing population and the advent of technological and industrial developments, the
environment is also at risk of deteriorating. By virtue of its signing and eventual ratification
of the Kyoto Protocol, the Philippines is able to recognize and address issues relating to
climate change. This enabled the country to conduct activities which will mitigate and
prevent the impacts of climate change and in the long run, to preserve the environment not
only for the benefit of the present generation but also the generation yet unborn.
 Laws enacted in response to the Kyoto Protocol

Clean Air Act of 1999, otherwise known as Republic Act 8749

Solid Waste Management Act of 2000

 Impact

The two biggest emitters of, the United States and China, produced
more than enough extra greenhouse gas to cancel out all of the other
countries' decreases during the Kyoto period.

According to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency,

global emissions increased by roughly 40% between 1990 and 2009.
 Criticisms

The Kyoto Protocol has been criticized for not doing enough in the
long run to address climate change and pollution.

It concentrates too much on carbon emissions and ignores other

pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which impairs
human health directly.
Climate change marks 33rd birthday: How it has turned the world upside
down

On June 23, 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen testified that the greenhouse effect had
been detected.

The previous year, at a secretive meeting of scientists that included the IPCC's
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) first chair, it had been recognized that
traditional cost-benefit analysis was inappropriate, on account of the "risk of major
transformations of the world of future generations."
 At the end of 1988, the Maltese government sponsored a
resolution of the UN General Assembly on the conservation of
the climate as mankind's common heritage, the subtext being that
rich countries shouldn't negotiate a climate change treaty and
then impose it on the rest of the world.
 Although the Clinton administration signed the Kyoto Protocol,
the Senate had killed US participation; it was left to the incoming
president, George W. Bush, to garner the opprobrium for stating
the obvious.
"Pull the wool over someone's eyes."
 References:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/kyoto.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol#Annex_I_countries

https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol

Agnes Paculdar, The Philippines’ Response to Climate Change, https://www.innovations-report.com/ecology-the-environment-and-conservation/philippines-response-climate-change-120282 (last visited June
27, 2021)

Paul Kay, Terms and Impacts of the Kyoto Protocol, https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/CIB/CIB9798/98CIB10 (last visited
June 27, 2021).

Federal Foreign Office, The Kyoto Protocol – currently the most important global environmental agreement, https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/themen/klima/-/243944 (last visited June 27,
2021).

Steve Connor, Scientists say Kyoto protocol is 'outdated failure', https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/scientists-say-kyoto-protocol-is-outdated-failure-5328805.html (last visited June 27,
2021).

Steve Maich, Kyoto Protocol's Shortcomings, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kyoto-protocols-shortcomings (last visited June 27, 2021).

Harvard Magazine, Problems with the Protocol, https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2002/11/problems-with-the-protoc.html (last visited June 27, 2021).

Climate change marks 33rd birthday: How it has turned the world upside down
https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/06/29/opinion/columns/climate-change-marks-33rd-birthday-how-it-has-turned-the-world-upside-down/1804971