At a glance | The Kyoto Protocol explainedPUBLISHED: 24 Nov 2012 13:44:40 | UPDATED: 24 Nov 2012 13:44:40PRINT EDITION: 24 Nov 2012
A quick guide to the Kyoto protocol.
WHAT IS THE KYOTO PROTOCOL?
- 191 countries and the European Union are members
- The protocol is the only global treaty with binding limits on climate-altering greenhouse gases
- The treaty commits nearly 40 developed "Annex 1" economies, emitting about a quarter of the world's greenhouse gas, to an average five-per cent cut from 1990 levels by 2012
- This forms part of efforts to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels
- A compliance assessment has yet to be done, but initial figures show the global target to be achievable despite vast differences between individual countries' performances
- The protocol's first leg runs out on December 31
- The Doha talks must agree on the modalities for a second commitment period from 2013
- Developing nations are not bound by the Kyoto Protocol under the principle that rich nations were responsible for pumping the vast majority of Earth-warming gases into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution
- The United States signed the UN pact but refuses to ratify it
- Canada, having vastly exceeded its emission limits, withdrew from the protocol in December 2011 - the first country to do so
- Fellow Annex 1 members New Zealand, Japan and Russia have indicated they will not join a second commitment period
- Many argue the deal is no longer fair, given that China, Brazil, India and Indonesia, which have no targets, are now among the biggest polluters
HOW THE KYOTO PROTOCOL WORKS
- Annex 1 countries can meet their targets by cutting emissions or buying unused allowances from poorer countries
- They can earn carbon credits by funding clean technology projects in developing nations, which they can sell on the carbon market or use to offset emissions
- Countries that exceed their targets are supposed to make up the difference, plus a penalty of 30 percent, in a second commitment period
THE FUTURE OF THE PROTOCOL
- The big question in Doha is how long a second commitment period should last, who will back it, and what its targets will be
- Small island countries under the most imminent threat of warming-induced sea level rises, want a five-year commitment which they believe will reflect the urgency
- The EU and others want an eight-year period flowing over into a new, global climate deal that must enter into force in 2020.