Kyoto

 

The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement among governments that sets targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and specifies the mechanisms that may be used to achieve them. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol shares the objective, principles and institutions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which entered force on 21 March 1994, but significantly strengthens it by committing developed countries (so-called Annex 1 countries), including the UK, to individual, legally-binding targets to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. 165 countries have ratified the Protocol to date.

The negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol

When they adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, governments knew that its commitments would not be sufficient to seriously tackle climate change. At the first Conference of the Parties (Berlin, 1995), in a decision known as the Berlin Mandate, Parties therefore launched a new round of talks to decide on stronger and more detailed commitments for industrialised countries. After two and a half years of intense negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the third Conference of the Parties in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997.
The complexity of the negotiations, however, meant that considerable ‘unfinished business’ remained even after the Kyoto Protocol itself was adopted. The Protocol sketched out the basic features of its ‘mechanisms’ and compliance system, for example, but did not explain the all-important rules of how they would operate. Although 84 countries signed the Protocol, indicating that they intended to ratify, many were reluctant to actually do so and bring the Protocol into force before having a clearer picture of the treaty’s rulebook. A new round of negotiations was therefore launched to flesh out the Kyoto Protocol’s rulebook, conducted in parallel with negotiations on ongoing issues under the Convention. This round finally culminated at the seventh Conference of the Parties with the adoption of the Marrakesh Accords, setting out detailed rules for the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. The Marrakesh Accords made considerable progress regarding the implementation of the Convention, and the Kyoto Protocol entered into force on 16 February 2005.

Commitments under the Kyoto Protocol

Of the 165 countries that have ratified the Protocol to date, 35 countries and the EU are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below levels specified for each of them in the treaty. These add up to a total cut in greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 5% from 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008–2012. The EU Member States adopted a collective target to reduce EU emissions by 8%. Under this ‘bubble’ arrangement the EU’s target is distributed between Member States to reflect their national circumstances, requirements for economic growth, and scope for further emissions reductions. Each Member State has a legally binding target, with the UK undertaking to reduce its emissions by 12.5%.

Forestry and the Kyoto Protocol

Of the Articles relevant to forestry, the three most important are:

• Article 2.1 calls for the protection and enhancement of sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases and the promotion of sustainable forest management practices, afforestation and reforestation.

• Article 3.3 states that the net changes in greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks resulting from direct human-induced land-use change and forestry activities limited to afforestation, reforestation and deforestation since 1990, measured as verifiable changes in carbon stocks in each commitment period, shall be used to meet commitments under the Protocol. By any generally accepted interpretation, restricting the accounting to afforestation, reforestation and deforestation activities since 1990 (sometimes referred to as the ‘Kyoto forests’) means that only a very small percentage of the world’s forests are covered by Article 3.3. The Protocol further stipulates that greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks associated with these activities shall be reported in a ‘transparent and verifiable manner’.

• Article 3.4 allows countries to account for carbon stock changes and non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions arising from other activities including the management of forests existing before 1990. The magnitude of any carbon sequestration due to human intervention must be verifiable. The Kyoto Protocol places restrictions on the extent to which carbon sequestration of this kind can be claimed, and details of how this would be monitored and reported are currently being elaborated by the IPCC.