Kyoto Protocol: A Performance Assessment Of The Kyoto Protocol

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A Performance Assessment of the Kyoto Protocol

Introduction

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was designed to address the global emissions of greenhouse gasses. Effective in 2005, it provided legally binding targets for countries which varied depending on the level of development of the country as well as contained certain measures for collaboration between countries for trading credits. Evidently, to successfully reduce global greenhouse gas emissions requires complete international cooperation, especially the cooperation of heavy polluting nations. If there is not full cooperation from heavy polluting nations, no matter how successful the protocol is with the cooperating
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Annex I parties, which are primarily comprised of developed nations, were given varying targets of greenhouse gas reduction in the range of 5 to 9% relative to 1990 levels of emissions in the timeframe between 2008 and 2012. Non Annex I parties, primarily developing nations in Africa, Asia, and South America, were not given binding targets ADDIN EN.CITE UNFCCC19978(UNFCCC, 1997)8810UNFCCC,1997Kyoto, JapanUnited Nations( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_6" o "UNFCCC, 1997 #8" UNFCCC, 1997). As greenhouse gas emissions are quantifiable, they can be compared to the targets set based on the 1990 emission levels. The necessary data exists in 1990 for which these targets are based on and therefore the targets are …show more content…
CornelisDepartment of Economics, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, CanadaCanadian Public PolicyCanadian Public Policy397-416294climate changeenvironmental policyinternational agreementKyoto Protocol2003University of Toronto Press Inc.03170861( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_8" o "van Kooten, 2003 #2" van Kooten, 2003). This looseness reduced legitimacy in eyes of many nations, including Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands. As a result, the consequence of failing to meet targets was not sufficient to increase the priority of reducing emissions for many

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