In December 1997, there was an international treaty adopted unanimously by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was named after a Japanese City, it was called the Kyoto Protocol. It took only one year for members of the UNFCCC to decide that there needed to be stricter demands for reducing gas emissions (UNFCCC, 2014). This Protocol was designed to reduce the emissions of gases that contribute to global warming.
Given that, there were 41 countries plus the European Union who agreed to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent. This period was called the “commitment period”, which ran from 2008 – 2012. With this intention, it was hyped as the most significant environmental treaty ever negotiated …show more content…
There are big qualms in predicting future climate changes, their impact, and their causes. These predictions are based on scenarios that forecast technology development, population change, international trade, and fuel use (Coon, 2011). Also, the protocol does not differentiate between human and non-human sources for greenhouse gases. Another flaw was the unrealistic targets. Many developed countries would be required to reduce their emissions below the 1990 levels, but many would not be able to meet those …show more content…
Overall, there have been more accomplishments than failures and the amount of emissions from countries with targets have fallen considerably. In the meantime, emissions in the rest of the world have increased substantially, especially in China and other evolving economies. This mars the success of the countries with targets because much of the growth in China and other developing economies has been driven by the production of goods and services exported to developed countries (Clark, 2012).
Additionally, with Europe’s reduction at just 1% of its target of 8% from 1990 to 2008, seeing the emissions rise by 7% for the developed world, and when you look at the total carbon footprint of each country, the progress made under Kyoto looks pretty bad (UNFCCC, 2014). Furthermore, the result is that global emissions have showed no sign of slowing down. Given that, the Kyoto Protocol has been a failure. However, it was unquestionably a significant first step in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and global climate diplomacy (Clark,
Given that, there were 41 countries plus the European Union who agreed to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent. This period was called the “commitment period”, which ran from 2008 – 2012. With this intention, it was hyped as the most significant environmental treaty ever negotiated …show more content…
There are big qualms in predicting future climate changes, their impact, and their causes. These predictions are based on scenarios that forecast technology development, population change, international trade, and fuel use (Coon, 2011). Also, the protocol does not differentiate between human and non-human sources for greenhouse gases. Another flaw was the unrealistic targets. Many developed countries would be required to reduce their emissions below the 1990 levels, but many would not be able to meet those …show more content…
Overall, there have been more accomplishments than failures and the amount of emissions from countries with targets have fallen considerably. In the meantime, emissions in the rest of the world have increased substantially, especially in China and other evolving economies. This mars the success of the countries with targets because much of the growth in China and other developing economies has been driven by the production of goods and services exported to developed countries (Clark, 2012).
Additionally, with Europe’s reduction at just 1% of its target of 8% from 1990 to 2008, seeing the emissions rise by 7% for the developed world, and when you look at the total carbon footprint of each country, the progress made under Kyoto looks pretty bad (UNFCCC, 2014). Furthermore, the result is that global emissions have showed no sign of slowing down. Given that, the Kyoto Protocol has been a failure. However, it was unquestionably a significant first step in controlling greenhouse gas emissions and global climate diplomacy (Clark,