Kyoto convention

The Kyoto Protocol is a treaty for the reduction of gases that contribute to global warming. It takes its name from the Japanese city where it was approved in December 1997. In force since 2005, the protocol required the signatory countries to reduce, between 2008 and 2012, their emissions of 6 different greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to 1990 levels. Despite some criticisms, the Kyoto Protocol is generally considered the most significant environmental treaty ever negotiated globally.

United Nations and Environment

In the Charter of the United Nations of 1945 there was no express mention of the environment: the member states, however, undertook to work together for the improvement of the standard of living and social progress throughout the world. This objective also included effective global climate monitoring: starting in 1951, the United Nations began to employ a specific body for this purpose: the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Environmentalism, especially understood as the conservation of the environment, was a sentiment already present from the end of the 19th century, but it had begun to involve civil society, through ecological demonstrations and movements, especially since the 1960s.

Under these thrusts, in 1968, the General Assembly of the United Nations convenes the first world conference on the environment, which will take place in Stockholm in 1972, from 5 to 16 June 1972, without the participation of the Soviet Union and the countries adherents to the Warsaw Pact. The main consequences will be two:

• the birth of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), based in Nairobi, which still monitors the environment worldwide, coordinates UN activities related to the environment, and encourages training in environmental policies.
• the Stockholm Declaration: a charter that brings together 26 principles that define human rights and responsibilities concerning the environment, identifying the protection and improvement of the environment as a priority for all humanity.

Global warming

In the mid-20th century, scientists had begun to wonder about global warming and climate change: was there a role for humanity, or were they purely natural phenomena? The debate, both scientific and political, intensified particularly in the 1980s when scientists began to ask governments, industries, and citizens to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases are released by humans in many ways: combustion of fuels for heating, transport, electricity, and industry, but also, among other things, decomposition of organic material and deforestation. The scientific community was beginning to hypothesize that the release of man-made greenhouse gases could cause changes in the planet's climate.

The Rio Accords

From 3 to 14 June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the United Nations organizes the largest meeting of political leaders ever seen in history: 117 heads of state, and representatives of 178 countries, meet to talk about climate and development. The official name of the meeting is the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), but it is remembered simply as the Earth Summit.

For the first time in history, environmental protection appears to be at the center of international political interests. All, at least nominally, declare themselves in favor of finding new ways for economic development capable of protecting the planet's environment, ratifying important documents, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Rio Declaration on the Environment and development.

To start tackling the problem of global warming, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is stipulated in Rio, which will come into operation on 21 March 1994. The signatory countries undertake to stabilize the concentration of gas greenhouse in the atmosphere to a level that prevents climate change. The commitment particularly concerns industrialized or industrializing countries.

The Convention also stipulated that each year the signatory countries would meet in a series of Conferences of the Parties (COP) to define ways in which these commitments would be met. The most important will be the third, which will take place on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan: on this occasion the first protocol of the Convention will be approved, that of Kyoto, which will precisely quantify what kind of commitment is required of the individual states in limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

The Kyoto Protocol

With the Kyoto protocol, industrialized countries undertake to reduce the main polluting greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. The main sectors concerned are heavy industry, waste disposal, agriculture, and energy. Emission reduction targets vary for individual countries based on circumstances.

Developing countries are not subject to the obligations of the protocol. For two reasons: on the one hand, of course, because they polluted less than industrialized countries, on the other because economic and social development and the fight against poverty were considered priorities over greenhouse gas emissions.

The treaty offered countries various possibilities, including some 'flexible mechanisms'. The first possible approach was the use of natural methods, "sink", to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. For example by planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Another proposed option was the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): investing in technology and infrastructure to facilitate the reduction of emissions in developing countries. A third option could be Emission Trading (ET), through which the signatory countries could buy or acquire rights to emissions, which in this way would assume an economic value, effectively becoming an asset that can be traded.

Kyoto Protocol for participating countries

For the Kyoto Protocol to come into effect, ratification of the protocol by 55 industrialized countries that are signatories to the UNFCCC was required. These 55 countries were collectively to be responsible for 55% of total carbon monoxide emissions. To reach this condition it will be necessary to wait eight years: only in February 2005, in fact, will Russia complete its adherence to the protocol. As for the first industrial power in the world, the United States, although among the signatories of the UNFCCC, will never ratify its adherence to the Protocol.

Conclusions, results, and limits

From a diplomatic point of view, the Kyoto Protocol was a milestone. From an environmental point of view, it was certainly an important first step, the results of which were not entirely satisfactory. During the first phase, between 2008 and 2012, it is not clear whether the signatory countries, while managing to reduce their emissions, have actually achieved their target.

To date, the main problem is certainly that some of the countries most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, China, India, and the United States, have not been required to comply with the protocol. China and India, among the signatory states, in fact, had the status of developing countries. As for the United States: they have never ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Non-member countries are responsible for approximately 40% of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Author: Alice Nicoletti