What is the Kyoto Protocol?
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement on climate change which is linked to the UNFCCC. It was finalized in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force in February 2005.
Australia is a party to the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized countries to reduce and stabilise greenhouse gas emissions to five per cent below 1990 levels between 2008-2012. The Protocol sets binding targets and timetables for emissions reductions and includes systems for:
The registration of Party transactions under the Kyoto mechanism
Submission of annual emissions inventory reports and national reports by the Parties
Adaptation programs to climate change
In addition to national measures, the Kyoto Protocol has the following market-based mechanisms to help meet these targets
Emissions Trading System - a market-based approach used to control pollution by placing a price on carbon emissions to achieve reductions in the emissions of pollutants.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - allows Annex I countries (to the UNFCCC) to meet their emission targets by financing emission reductions projects elsewhere to gain carbon credits or offsets.
Joint Implementation - allows Annex 1 countries (to the UNFCCC) to meet their emission limitations by purchasing emission reductions credits from elsewhere
However, parties to the Kyoto Protocol are yet to agree on how the protocol will be implemented and how to deal with non-compliance.
In signing the Kyoto Protocol Australia made a commitment to:
- set a target to reduce emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050
- establish a national emissions trading scheme by 2010
- set a 20 per cent target for renewable energy by 2020
Please click to download a .html version of the Kyoto Protocol
Indigenous Peoples and the Kyoto Protocol
The Third International Forum of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities on Climate Change released a declaration in Bonn, Germany in 2001 criticizing the Kyoto Protocol for failing to acknowledge the existence and contributions of Indigenous Peoples in the context of climate change.
Further up-to-date information on Indigenous peoples engagement on negotiations of The Kyoto Protocol and the UNFCCC can be found through the Indigenous Climate Portal
What are greenhouse gases?
Greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, are created when fossil fuels are burned. The six major greenhouse gases covered by the protocol are:
Carbon dioxide: combustion of natural gas and petroleum products for energy.
Natural (gases): from volcanoes, trees, forest fires, vegetation, oceans, animal waste, wetlands and soil.
Methane: combustion of coal, natural gas; decomposition of waste in landfills
Nitrous oxide: from fertilizers, industrial combustion of fossil fuels
Hydro fluorocarbons: used as an aerosol additive
Perfluorocarbons: used in aluminium production
Sulphur hexafluoride: semiconductor manufacturing processes.
Please click for information on:
- UNFCCC
- Indigenous peoples and climate change
- Australia’s Responses to Climate Change
|
