The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed in Rio de Janeiro at the 1992 Earth Summit, recognizes the objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. In addition to recognizing "common but differentiated responsibilities" of all Parties (i.e. participating countries) in achieving this goal, Article 4.2 commits developed country Parties (listed in Annex I of the Convention) to adopt policies to mitigate global climate change with to the aim of returning emissions to 1990 levels. The UNFCCC entered into force on March 21, 1994.
Article 4.2 of the FCCC also allows for the joint implementation (JI) of measures to reduce GHGs. The concept of JI refers to the implementation of measures in one country with partial or full financial and/or technical support from another country, potentially fulfilling some of the supporting country’s emission-reduction commitment under the Convention. The rules governing a JI system were further defined at the 1st Conference of Parties (COP-1) in 1995. Together with the establishment of clear guidelines, the COP-1 decision established a pilot project stage, known as activities implemented jointly (AIJ), during which time GHG reduction projects would be carried out jointly in Annex I countries without generating credits to investing country. The pilot phase will continue through the year 2000. At the same time the Parties, in a decision commonly referred to as the Berlin Mandate, agreed to initiate negotiations to strengthen the emissions limitation commitments envisioned in the original Convention.
These negotiations were finalised at the third COP in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, where the Parties of the FCCC adopted differentiated targets for emission reductions beyond those established in Rio. Quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments (QELRCs), i.e. national emission caps, were introduced which committed 39 countries listed in Annex B to a combined 5.2 percent reduction of GHG emissions below the 1990 levels in the time interval 2008-2012. The legally binding commitments envisioned in the Protocol would affect a basket of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The individual country targets of Annex B countries differ between a decrease of up to 8 per cent and an increase of up to 10 per cent in greenhouse gas emissions.
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Quantitative Emission Limitation and Reduction Commitments (QELRCs) for Each Individual Party of the Kyoto Protocol |
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QELRC commitment |
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110 |
Iceland |
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108 |
Australia |
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101 |
Norway |
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100 |
New Zealand, Russian Federation, Ukraine |
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95 |
Croatia |
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94 |
Canada, Hungary, Japan, Poland |
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93 |
USA |
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92 |
EC and each of its Member states, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland |
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Source: Kyoto Protocol / UNFCCC Secretariat Total Reduction Commitment: 5.2 % |
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In addition to these direct national commitments, the Kyoto Protocol to the FCCC officially endorsed four international mechanisms (bubble policy, joint implementation (JI), clean development mechanism (CDM), and international emissions trading (IET)) that allow for transfers of emission rights or reduction credits in order to achieve the commitments elaborated in the Protocol. Referred to collectively as "flexibility mechanisms," cooperative implementation mechanisms (CIMs), or the "Kyoto mechanisms," these instruments allow individual countries flexibility in developing strategies to meet their QELRCs.
The Kyoto Protocol awaits ratification by Parties to the Convention. The structure, timing, and implementation of the international mechanisms continue to be debated. The Protocol and its national commitments shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date on which not less than 55 Parties to the Convention, incorporating Annex I Parties which account in total for at least 55 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 from that group, have ratified their signatures to the Protocol. Of the 84 signatures to the Protocol, 9 nations have ratified as of May 1999.
COP-4 held in Buenos Aires in October 1998 agreed on a work plan to discuss the technical issues surrounding CDM, JI, and EIT. At the time of writing, COP-5 is currently being held in Bonn, Germany (October 25 - November 5 1999). Five thousand participants from over 150 countries are expected to attend the event chaired by Jan Szyszko, Minister of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources, and Forestry of Poland. It is expected that discussions initiated here will be concluded next year at a conference planned to be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, in November 2000.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, and information regarding COP decisions is readily available from the UNFCCC Secretariat: www.unfcc.de