Kyoto Protocol

Advertisement
 Download your Full Reports for Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement between many countries to reduce the amount of green house gas emissions. As you know, green house gases create a warmer climate here on earth and leads to global warming. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997. Under this protocol, countries have to monitor the amount of emissions released into the atmosphere annually.
The goal of this protocol is to decrease the amount of green house gas emissions released into the atmosphere and lower the earths climate. So far the countries in the treaty have lowered their annual green house gas emissions.
The United States has not joined the Kyoto protocol and I support the U.S. for not signing it. First off, the protocol would cost the country a lot of money to reduce the amount of green house gas emissions because many factories would need to get shut down or reduce the amount of goods they produce. There also isn't any proof that lowering the amount of emissions released in the atmosphere would lower earths climate.
If the United States entered the Kyoto Protocol, it would hurt Americans economically. There would be higher taxes and? there would be less jobs because companies would have to reduce their emissions and because of that, they would lose their business. Also there is no proof that limiting the amount of emissions released in the atmosphere would help cool the earths climate. Some scientists believe that global warming doesn't exist and the increase of the earths average temperature is due to erratic weather patterns over the past several years.

What are the three flexibility mechanisms put in place of the Kyoto Protocol for reducing GHG emission?

  • The three mechanisms are joint implementation. Emissions Trading and Clean Development

What is Joint Implementation?

  • Through the Joint Implementation, any Annex I country can invest in emission reduction projects (referred to as joint Implementation Project) in any other Annex I country as an alternative to reducing emissions domestically.
  • Two early examples are change from a wet to a dry process at a Ukraine cement works, reducing energy consumption by 53 percent by 2008-2012; and rehabilitation of a Bulgarian hydropower project, with a 267,000 ton reduction of C02 equivalent during 2008-2012.

What is Clean Development Mechanism?

  • The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows-'l developed country with an emission reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to implement an emission reduction project in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries. In exchange for the amount of reduction In emission thus achieved, the investing gets carbon credits which it can offset against its Kyoto targets. The developing country gains a Step towards sustainable development.
  • To get a CDM project registered and implemented, the investing country' has to first take approval from the designated national authority in the host country, establish "Additionally", define baselines and get the project validated by a third party agency, called a Designated Operational Entity (DOE). The Executive Body of CDM registers the project and issues credits, called Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), or carbon credits, where each unit is equivalent to the reduction of one metric tonne of. C02 or its equivalent. There are more than 4200 CDM projects in the pipeline as on 14.3.2010. The expected CERs till the end of2012 is 2,900,000,000

What is "Additionality" in a CDM project ?

  • The feature of "additionality" is a crucial element of a CDM project it means that the industrialized country that is seeking to establish the CDM project in the developing country and earns carbon credits from it has to establish that the planned carbon reductions would not have occurred on its own, in the absence of the CDM project. They have to establish a baseline of the project. Which is the emission level that would have been there in the absence of the project. The difference between this baseline level and the (lower) emission level achieved as a result of the project is the carbon credit due to the investing country

What are some of the concerns regarding CDM ?

  • The risk of ?false Credits" is a cause for concern with regard to CDM projects. If a project does not actually offer an additionally and the reduction in emission would have happened anyway Even without the project.

What is emmissions trading?
As per this, if a country has emission units to spare (i.e., emissions permitted to them but not used), it can sell its excess capacity to countries that over their targets.

 Download your Full Reports for Kyoto Protocol

Advertisement

© 2013 123seminarsonly.com All Rights Reserved.