The adoption and entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto
Protocol was finally negotiated and
concluded at the 3rd meeting of the
United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Conference
of Parties (COP-3) in December 1997
in Kyoto, Japan, following a series of submissions
by Parties to the UNFCCC and talks held
by the Ad Hoc Working Group established
after COP-1 held in Berlin, 1995. The Kyoto
Protocol entered into force generally on
16 February 2005. Australia signed
the Kyoto Protocol on 24 April 1998,
but did not ratify until 12 December
2007 following the election of the ALP government.
To date, 182 parties have ratified
the Kyoto Protocol.
The object and purpose of the Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 UNFCCC,
serves to give effect to the UNFCCC's objective
of reducing human-induced greenhouses
gases (GHGs) in an effort to address
climate change, guided by the UNFCCC's key
principles of PRECAUTION,
INTERGENERATIONAL
EQUITY, sustainable development,
and COMMON
BUT DIFFERENTIATED RESPONSIBILITIES
and RESPECTIVE
CAPABILITIES. As a logical extension
of this last principle, Parties to the Kyoto
Protocol are placed into one of two categories:
The Protocol's objective is sought to be
achieved through the imposition on developed
countries (included in Annex
I) of individually
assigned and legally binding GHG emissions
targets (prescribed in Annex B of the Protocol),
with the attendant commitment to the development
and adoption of other relevant enabling
policies and measures. Notwithstanding the
variation in Annex I countries' emission
targets, the goal is to bring about a reduction
of GHG emissions (listed in Annex A of the
Protocol) by, a collective average of at
least 5 per cent below the 1990 emissions
levels for the commitment period 2008–2012.
More specifically, 1990 is used as a base
year for CARBON
DIOXIDE,
METHANE and NITROUS
OXIDE, whereas 1995 is the base
year adopted for industrial trace gases
(HYDROFLUOROCARBONS
(HFCs), PERFLUOROCARBONS
(PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)).
Under the Kyoto Protocol, Australia is
required to limit its average annual greenhouse
gas emissions over the 2008–2012 period
to 108 per cent of its emissions in
1990.
Meeting obligations under Kyoto
The parties to the Kyoto Protocol can meet their obligations either
by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions or increasing their removals
sinks or both. Removals sinks are limited to direct human-induced
land-use change and forestry activities (afforestation, reforestation
and deforestation since 1990).
The Kyoto Protocol does not specify the
mechanisms by which Parties to the Protocol
must meet their emissions target, thus providing
an Annex I country such as Australia reasonable
amount of discretion as to the policies
and measures it implements domestically
to meet its target. Domestic abatement action
should be the primary means by which Annex
I countries such as Australia meets their
emissions target. Parties are also provided
with an indicative list of policies and
measures that they may wish to consider.
These include promoting sustainable agriculture,
promoting the renewable energy, removing
market assistance for environmentally damaging
economic activities, confronting the issue
of transport sector emissions, and so forth.
The Kyoto Protocol also sets out three
'flexibility mechanisms' that Annex I parties
such as Australia may use as a supplementary
means of meeting its target. These potentially
help Annex I Parties cut the cost of meeting
their emissions targets:
Operationalising the aims of the
Kyoto Protocol—the work of COP/MOP
An association of the Parties that have
ratified the Kyoto Protocol, known as the
Conference
of the Parties serving as the Meeting
of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP),
meets around the same time as the UNFCCC
COP and is the highest decision-making body
of the Kyoto Protocol. The most recent meeting
of Kyoto Protocol Parties took place at
the United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Bali, December 2007.
Article 18 of the Protocol tasks COP/MOP
with approving appropriate and effective
procedures and mechanisms to determine and
to address non-compliance. The final agreement
on most issues relating to compliance mechanisms
was achieved in Marrakech in 2001. The Parties
adopted Decision 24/C.7—Procedures
and mechanisms relating to compliance under
the Kyoto Protocol. The compliance and enforcement
measures adopted included both soft enforcement
measures, such as persuasion and capacity
building, and also more punitive measures,
such as exclusion from the flexibility mechanisms
and the imposition of penalties.
The Kyoto Protocol’s compliance regime
consists of a Compliance Committee made
up of two branches—a facilitative
branch and an enforcement branch, both of
which are composed of ten members. The enforcement
branch has the power to apply certain consequences
on Annex I Parties that fail to meet their
commitments.
The articles of the Kyoto Protocol at a glance
-
Definitions of terms
(Article 1).
-
Substantive obligations
of Annex I State Parties (Articles 2,
3, 5, 7).
-
Basic UNFCCC commitments
for all parties to the Kyoto Protocol
(Article 10).
-
Financial assistance
to developing countries—this is
basically a re-statement of the UNFCCC
(Articles 4(3) and 11).
-
The roles of COP, the Secretariat and subsidiary
bodies and processes with respect to the Kyoto Protocol (Articles
9, 13, 14, 15, 16).
-
The use of market mechanisms to reduce GHG emissions
(Articles 4, 6, 12, 17).
-
Compliance and dispute resolution procedures
(Articles 18, 19).
-
Annex I—provides
a list of emissions reductions obligations
on developed country parties and other
parties undergoing the process of transition
to a market economy.
-
Annex A— provides
a list of GHGs covered by the Protocol.
-
Annex B—lists
the emissions targets for Annex I countries.
Further reading:
Text
of the Kyoto Protocol.
