The Kyoto Protocol was an agreement among hundreds of countries all over the world in an effort to minimize climate change in light of recent alarming developments. The Kyoto Protocol set internationally binding reduction targets for emissions that contribute to global warming. Adopted in Kyoto in December of 1997 and in force in 2005, the Protocol established detailed rules in Morocco in 2001. The Protocol set limits based on commitment periods, where the first period was between 2008 and 2012. In general, developed nations had higher restrictions than less developed nations due to their larger perceived contribution towards the global warming problems.
In order to enforce and encourage these reductions in commitments, the Kyoto Protocol instituted a rule that countries who did not reduce emissions enough would have to make up the difference with a penalty of 30% in the next commitment period. The concept of emissions trading, and the punishment of revoking this privilege, was used as additional motivation for countries to adhere to the Protocol. The target emissions were carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulphur hexaflouride.
The Kyoto Protocol was one of the first steps for a global emission reduction goal, considered a significant environmental treaty as well as a potential infrastructure for future agreements. However, it still faces many challenges regarding the extent of its usefulness. For example, most of the countries failed to meet the target in the first two years. Even then, the Protocol was/is criticized for not being significant enough to truly have a global effect. For example, China is the leading emitter of greenhouse gases, yet as a developing country, it was not bound by the treaty. In addition, we learned in Chapter 28 that the Bush administration refused to abide by the Kyoto Protocol due to economic reasons among others. This decision was very controversial, as the treaty had already comprised hundreds of nations, yet America, one of the largest culprits, still refused to participate.
Bush’s refusal to participate in the Kyoto Protocol may also have been paralleled later, through Trump’s rejection of the Paris Accord that was effective since 2016. Repeatedly, America has rejected international proposals for attempts to mitigate climate change, and thus America has faced criticism in all of these cases for not playing its part. We may observe this as a possible difficulty of globalization, due to the complex economic implications (as cited by Bush) caused by such international agreements.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Kyoto-Protocol
https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-kyoto-protocol/what-is-the-kyoto-protocol/what-is-the-kyoto-protocol
https://unfccc.int/process/the-kyoto-protocol
I really enjoyed reading your post, as I found the topic very interesting. I liked how you gave many details and provided an analysis of the events. I was quite surprised by how China is not bound by the treaty even though it is the leading emitter of greenhouse gases. Additionally, it is quite interesting to realize the lack of enforceability of many international treaties.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol
I liked how in depth this post goes into the treaty. I appreciate the Kyoto Protocol not just because of what it does for the planet, but also because it is an example of one of the few moments of (almost) unanimous worldwide cooperation towards a common goal. An interesting thing that I found out was that the U.S actually met the target set by the Kyoto Protocol despite not signing it.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/05/usa-meets-kyoto-protocol-without-ever-embracing-it/
It was very interesting to learn the environmental impact of Kyoto Protocol, being the first global environmental agreement. It is also very interesting how you compared it with Donald Trump's decision with the Paris Accord. I think another interesting point to explore would be the historical context for Kyoto Protocol and why the international agreement took place in Japan instead of other first-world countries.
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