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The international treaty to combat global warming has come into force after a long wait. The treat called the Kyoto protocol is the first international pact aimed at checking the pace of climate change by reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Developed countries now have to be ready with definite plans to start cleaning up the air over the next seven years. If all goes well, this could mean a cleaner environment for all of us.
The protocol signed in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997 seeks for the industrial world to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. It allows a developed country to meet part of its target by funding clean options and technologies in developing countries. Actual reductions in emissions have to be certified through a complex international process. But a developed country could effectively then buy certified emission reduction credits (CERs).
Scientists warn that global warming could trigger droughts and floods, raise sea levels and wipe out thousands of species by 2100.
Climate Change
Many Scientists believe that world’s climate is changing. The United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summarizes the work of 2,000 of the world’s top climate experts. Its reports say the world is definitely getting warmer. The IPCC says the average global surface temperature has risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius since 1900, with much of that rise coming in the 1990s-probably the warmest decade in 1,000 years. The IPCC also found that snow cover since the late 1960s has decreased by about 10 per cent and lakes and rivers in the Northern Hemisphere are frozen over about two weeks less each year than they were then. Mountain glaciers in non-polar regions have also been in “noticeable retreat” in the 20th century and the average global sea level has risen between 0.1 and 0.2 meters since 1900.
Greenhouse Effect
The greenhouse effect that is contributing to global warming is caused by the absorption by individual molecules that are free, that are not part of the surface. There are two kinds of particulate effects: Black carbon simply absorbs heat whereas the mirror-effect is caused when particulates get scattered and deflect light. The ‘cooling’ effect is not enough to counter the warming effect. As a matter of approximation, carbon dioxide (C02) concentration throughout the world is the same, differences could only be a few percentage points, even over forests and oceans.
On the gas emissions, CO2 is roughly one-half, followed by methane and others. Aerosols are significant in some instances. For example, after a big volcanic eruption, particulates remain in the stratosphere for years. Then there is cooling because of the mirror-effect.
Normally, CO2 emission are quantified by calculating on the basis of fossil fuel consumption. The oceans and forests are soaking up some carbon but not enough because if they were, then the CO2 levels would not keep increasing. With so much carbon, the oceans are becoming slowly more acidic, the CO2 in water becomes carbolic acid and might eventually affect marine by changing the chemical compound.
Protocol Background
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a treaty on global warming and the Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to it. Countries, which ratify it, agree to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and five other greenhouse gases or they maintain or increase emissions of these gases, which are linked to global warming. The agreement came into force on February 16, 2005.
Developed countries have to pay for releasing these gases, and supply technology to other countries for climate-related studies and projects. Countries also receive credits through various shared ‘clean energy’s programmes and ‘carbon dioxide sinks’ in the form of forests and other systems that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The reduction in worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases is not uniform-while most of Western Europe is committed to cuts in the vicinity of 8 percent, the rates vary across countries. Some countries, such as Iceland, can actually increase emissions by upto 10 per cent under the treaty, which came into effect on February 16, 2005.
The treaty was signed by 141 nations, which together account for 55 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Significantly, the US and Australia haven’t signed the treaty. In 2001, one of the first acts of newly elected President George Bush was to formally withdraw the US from Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Bush said the US would not ratify the treaty because it would damage the American economy and major developing nations like China and India were not covered by its provisions. Although India and China have signed the treaty, they are not required to make any cuts in emission till 2012, the reason being that developing nations should not pay a price for later industrialization.
Provisions
Emission targets can be met in several ways. The most obvious way is to actually reduce greenhouse gas emission – more fuel-efficient cars, fewer coal-fired power plant. But Kyoto also allows for three other mechanisms. Countries can buy “emissions credits” – earned by reducing emissions below mandated levels – from countries that don’t need them to stay below their emissions quotas. A country can also earn emission credits through something called joint implementation, which allows a country to benefit by carrying out something like afforestation project in another industrialsed country or “economy in transition”. There is also what is called a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that encourages investment in developing countries by promoting the transfer of environment-friendly technologies.
The Kyoto Protocol contains measures to assess performances and progress. It also contains some penalties. Countries that fail to meet their emission target by the end of the first commitment period (2012) must make up the difference plus a penalty of 30 per cent in the second commitment period. Their ability to sell credit under emissions trading will also be suspended.
Analysis
India has set up administrative structures to take advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism – a market instrument created by the Kyoto Protocol as a bait and a “win-win” solution. “Carbon trading”, as it is also known, encourages transfer of eco-friendly technologies and processes to developing countries, which can use this process to meet their emission reduction targets. The U.S., the largest polluter, should realize that it would be easier for it to rectify what it calls discrimination in favour of developing countries only if it becomes a part of the protocol, which is supported by the World Bank. It is too early to say whether carbon trading will be effective, though already many projects have been line up for it – they include energy generation from pig farm waste and manufacture of flyash bricks.
Meanwhile, India leads the world in terms of the number of projects accorded to it by the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) Executive Board, as per the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. So far India has approved 55 CDM projects. The vigorous project development activity in our country, and the proactive stands adopted by the Government, has propelled India to become the most favourable destination for CDM investments, according to the Minister for Environment and Forests, Shri A. Raja.
Today, there is need for recognition that in general, environment – friendly policies tend to be pro-poor by protecting the access of the poor to natural resources; and that if nation states continue to define economic growth in terms of the inevitability of the depredation of natural resources, the underdogs of the world may one day reject the very concept of economic growth as understood at present. (PIB Features)
*Freelance Writer
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