kyoto protocol posts, articles, and infographics

Was the Kyoto Protocol a Failure?

December 29, 2011 by Silvio Marcacci
with 862 views

Almost 15 years ago, the world gathered in Japan to negotiate the Kyoto Protcol, a landmark international treaty to limit greenhouse gases. As the expiration date of the world’s first carbon cutting treaty draws closer, energyNOW! asks – was Kyoto a success or a failure? [read more]

Canada Withdraws From Kyoto & Continues Developing Tar Sands

December 21, 2011 by Jake Schmidt
with 207 views

Literally one day after the global warming negotiations ended in Durban, South Africa the government of Canada formally notified the world that they were withdrawing from the global warming pollution targets they had taken on under the Kyoto Protocol. Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent must have signed the formal withdrawal... [read more]

Evaluating Durban

December 13, 2011 by Dan Bodansky
with 379 views

Was the Durban climate conference a success or failure? As always, the answer depends on one’s frame of reference. [read more]

Assessing the Climate Talks — Did Durban Succeed?

December 13, 2011 by Robert Stavins
with 205 views

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adjourned on Sunday, a day and a half after its scheduled close, and in the process once again pulled a rabbit out of the hat by saving the talks from complete collapse (which appeared possible just a few days earlier).... [read more]

Good COP, Bad COP

December 13, 2011 by Jason Hartke
with 180 views

Like on any of the nighttime dramas, we watch time and time again how yet another police duo utilize the classic good cop/bad cop routine. Well, in my final blog from Durban, I leave you with my own good COP/bad COP. Let’s play good COP first. [read more]

Durban - How Big a Deal?

December 12, 2011 by Elliot Diringer
with 151 views

Only time will tell whether the Durban climate talks produced an historic breakthrough. It’s possible. What’s clear for now is that the Durban deal keeps the global climate effort intact and moving – however incrementally – in the right direction. [read more]

Is The End of Durban Also The End of Kyoto?

December 9, 2011 by Shira Honig
with 269 views

The end of the Durban conference is approaching, and in all likelihood, the end of the Kyoto Protocol along with it.Developments in the last few days indicate the outcome is more likely to confirm a global disagreement, rather than agreement, over the idea of a second Kyoto commitment period, or “Kyoto II,” for all countries, both... [read more]

Will the Durban Climate Negotiations Succeed?

December 9, 2011 by Robert Stavins
with 135 views

Two weeks of international climate negotiations began last week in Durban, South Africa. These are the Seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP-17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The key challenge at this point is to maintain the process of building a sound foundation for meaningful,... [read more]

Durban: Putting the Dust into the Dustbin of History?

December 8, 2011 by A Siegel
with 146 views

This guest post, from Heather Libby in Durban, South Africa, provides a window in thinking as to the gap between the negotiating halls and people suffering from climate chaos a few miles away, the gap between putting happy faces on a problem and choosing to address climate change in a way to reduce its catastrophic impacts.... [read more]

COP17: Tackling Emissions Surplus & Linkage Harder Than Expected

December 6, 2011 by Sabina Manea
with 213 views

A week into the Durban conference, progress on the continued workability of the Kyoto Protocol emissions trading mechanism is slow. A number of parties to the negotiations have acknowledged that action needs to be taken to tackle the surplus of Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) in the international emissions market. The details of the action remain undecided, despite some proposals being put forward in various discussion groups. If a second commitment period is to go ahead, agreement on the carry-over of AAUs will have to be reached in order to give certainty to the market. [read more]

Do Countries at COP17 Have a Mandate to Negotiate a Climate Agreement?

December 5, 2011 by Jake Schmidt
with 189 views

For the last two global warming negotiations – in Copenhagen and Cancun – there were serious efforts by countries to get a “mandate” to negotiate a new legal agreement that would strengthen international efforts to address global warming. Before this meeting this issue – “where we are headed” – was shaping up to be the key political decision at this year Ministerial meeting in Durban, South Africa. [read more]

Message to Durban: It's The Economy

November 30, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 178 views

What if they held a UN climate conference and no one came? That's certainly not the case at this year's COP-17 (Conference of the Parties) meeting now underway in Durban, South Africa, but with expectations for dramatic progress low, and a breakthrough on the scale needed to salvage the expiring Kyoto Protocol nearly unimaginable, it could be where the UN-led process is headed. If Durban fails to deliver the goods, it won't be because the participants were any less concerned about climate change than those at past sessions. Nor will it be because of the latest release of Climategate emails, as embarrassing as some of them should be for the scientists involved. The reason is much simpler, and it's the same one that helped Bill Clinton unseat George H.W. Bush in 1992: "It's the economy, stupid." The solution to climate change is unlikely to be found in Durban or any future COP site until the leaders in Brussels, Washington and other capitals come to grips with the massive economic challenges they face and create the framework for a return to robust growth. [read more]

Leadership By China is The Best Chance For Successful Climate Treaty

November 30, 2011 by Jim Pierobon
with 164 views

As the next round of international negotiations about a possible climate change treaty — the 17th to be exact since the Kyoto Treaty was signed in 1992 — get up to speed in Durban, South Africa, it’s becoming increasingly clear that an environmental emergency stands the best chance of compelling industrialized countries to act. That’s because nothing else will. [read more]

Canada's Sham Of A Climate Policy

August 23, 2011 by Simon Donner
with 265 views

There are two stories here. The first is that Canada has made many emissions pledges but repeatedly failed to enact any plan to meet those pledges. This is not a partisan issue. It happened under majority and minority Liberal governments, and it is happening under minority and now majority Conservative governments [read more]

Did Huhne Really Compare Climate Change to Hitler?

July 24, 2011 by David Thorpe
with 474 views

DECC minister Chris Huhne has compared world leaders who obstruct a global deal to tackle climate change to politicians who tried to appease Adolf Hitler before World War Two.Does this make climate change a threat akin to the Nazis, who plunged the world into war?The Energy and Climate Change Minister was at Chatham House, endeavouring... [read more]