As Carbon cycle(s) from Japan to Denmark

The Kyoto protocol was an international attempt in December 1997 designed towards stabilizing six greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons) that are widely believed to anthropogenically interfere with the climate system. The United States was the only country not to have ratified the protocol, for reasons not difficult to comprehend for the common man,thereby becoming the world’s highest CO2 emitter( recently surpassed by China). Under this agreement, industrialized nations agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% compared to the year 1990.

As has been predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the average temperature of the earth would rise anywhere between 1.4° C to 5.8°C  from 1990 to 2100. The main objective of the Kyoto Protocol was to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases that would otherwise contribute to this temperature rise. It was a collective effort launched to tackle the challenges brought about by global warming.

Under Kyoto, an emissions trading system was announced, which is an administrative approach used to curb pollution by providing economic incentives to countries that succeed in reducing their GHG emissions. A government or an international body sets an upper limit (cap) on the amount of a pollutant that can be emitted. Individual businesses and organizations are issued emission permits and are required to hold an equivalent number of allowances (or credits) which represent the right to emit a specific amount. The total amount of allowances and credits cannot exceed this upper limit, curbing total emissions to that level. Businesses needing to increase their emission allowance must buy credits from those who pollute less. The transfer of allowances is referred to as a trade. In effect, the buyer is paying a charge for polluting, while the seller is being rewarded for having reduced emissions by more than was needed. This, in theory, ensures that businesses can carry out their operations as usual, while also paying a careful attention on the amount of harmful gases they release into the atmosphere.

Another major agreement reached in Japan was the establishment of  Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). CDM allows industrialized nations to invest in clean energy projects in developing countries as an alternative to the more expensive emissions reductions in their own countries. There are over 1,400 projects currently registered under the CDM theme, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 220 million ton CO2 equivalent per year.

Kyoto was a great head start in our collective effort to tackle global warming and climate change. Like all good things come to an end, the good deeds created by Kyoto have to be saved and filed away, paving the path for Copenhagen! COP15 is a United Nations Climate Change Conference to be hosted by Denmark in December 2009. It is expected that the world, developed and developing, will agree and establish a comprehensive climate change agreement.

-Yash Divekar

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