a curious girl in a curious world..

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4th December 2007

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And then there was one. Yesterday, at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Australia signed up to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the US out in the, well, warm as the only major player (and top polluter) not to join. Yes, that’s right. The same global warming pact we heralded, we have yet to join. Silly, right? Here’s a little background about the Kyoto Protocol.. it’s a set of rules, agreed upon in 1997 and initiated in 2005, that guide how the world should deal with global warming and reduce greenhouse gasses. 36 countries + the EU have ratified it and are required to reduce emissions (representing 60% of emissions), and another 137 countries have ratified it but don’t have reduction requirements. Not the US, the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide, though! Why not the US? Well, Gore signed the protocol in 1998, but it would have to go through the Senate to be ratified. Clinton never submitted it for ratification and Bush, well he won’t ratify it because China (the world’s 2nd largest polluter rapidly approaching 1st) hasn’t and because he thinks it will hurt our economy (and quite possibly he does not truly believe in climate change). Fine, okay, but the US has still not taken any action outside of Kyoto or planned for how to mitigate global warming. So China. I hear a lot of speculation about China soon placing 1st among polluters. Which is true, its emission output is very close or about equal to that of the United States. However, per capita, China emits only 15% of the US’ greenhouse emissions. China won’t ratify Kyoto because it believes its regulations should be less stringent because of its population control practices and the aforementioned low emissions per capita. So what’s the Kyoto protocol actually doing? It has set up a cap and trade emissions trading system. This means that is a national cap on the emissions of each country that ratified the protocol to reduce their emissions 5.2% below the 1990 rate by 2012. It’s a complex system but in a nutshell, firms are given amount of carbon emissions they can pollute per year between 2008 and 2012. Those who will need more credit can purchase them from those who will not need their credits, or those who have invested in cleaner/greener technology to reduce emissions. This is already in effect in the UK and the EU and is speculated to occur here in the US either by 2012 (if the US finally tags along with the Kyoto Protocol Part Deux) or once some bills (like the Warner-Lieberman Energy Bill) pass in the Senate or we get some new representation in the white house.

And then there was one.

Yesterday, at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Australia signed up to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the US out in the, well, warm as the only major player (and top polluter) not to join. Yes, that’s right. The same global warming pact we heralded, we have yet to join.

Silly, right? Here’s a little background about the Kyoto Protocol.. it’s a set of rules, agreed upon in 1997 and initiated in 2005, that guide how the world should deal with global warming and reduce greenhouse gasses. 36 countries + the EU have ratified it and are required to reduce emissions (representing 60% of emissions), and another 137 countries have ratified it but don’t have reduction requirements. Not the US, the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide, though!

Why not the US? Well, Gore signed the protocol in 1998, but it would have to go through the Senate to be ratified. Clinton never submitted it for ratification and Bush, well he won’t ratify it because China (the world’s 2nd largest polluter rapidly approaching 1st) hasn’t and because he thinks it will hurt our economy (and quite possibly he does not truly believe in climate change). Fine, okay, but the US has still not taken any action outside of Kyoto or planned for how to mitigate global warming.

So China. I hear a lot of speculation about China soon placing 1st among polluters. Which is true, its emission output is very close or about equal to that of the United States. However, per capita, China emits only 15% of the US’ greenhouse emissions. China won’t ratify Kyoto because it believes its regulations should be less stringent because of its population control practices and the aforementioned low emissions per capita.

So what’s the Kyoto protocol actually doing? It has set up a cap and trade emissions trading system. This means that is a national cap on the emissions of each country that ratified the protocol to reduce their emissions 5.2% below the 1990 rate by 2012. It’s a complex system but in a nutshell, firms are given amount of carbon emissions they can pollute per year between 2008 and 2012. Those who will need more credit can purchase them from those who will not need their credits, or those who have invested in cleaner/greener technology to reduce emissions. This is already in effect in the UK and the EU and is speculated to occur here in the US either by 2012 (if the US finally tags along with the Kyoto Protocol Part Deux) or once some bills (like the Warner-Lieberman Energy Bill) pass in the Senate or we get some new representation in the white house.

Tagged: environment