December 2005
UN Agrees To Take Kyoto Forward
The historic United Nations Climate Change Conference 2005 in Montreal, Canada, has now concluded after two weeks of international negotiations. After a slow start and little expectation, the talks eventually produced far more progress than seemed possible at first.
The conference which was the largest such meeting since the Kyoto Climate Conference in 1997 generated a high level of international interest as it was the first ever meeting of the 156 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the 11th Conference of the 189 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was also taking place.
The Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect on 16th February this year, requires the largest industrialised countries to achieve concrete and legally binding emission reduction targets during the period 2008-2012. However, the complexity of the negotiations to form the Kyoto Protocol meant that considerable "unfinished business" remained even after the Protocol itself was adopted. The aim of this year’s Climate Change Conference was to hopefully agree on some of the final sticking points.
At the end, the conference adopted 40 decisions in all. The following is a brief summary of some of the key outcomes.
The countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol agreed:
- to start "a process to consider further commitments" for developed nations beyond 2012, when the first phase of controls on carbon dioxide emissions run out.
- A new working group was established to discuss future commitments for developed countries for the period after 2012. It will start work in May next year. The text did not spell out what type of "commitments" they would seek. Under Kyoto, about 40 nations have to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. By signalling that emission reductions will continue after 2012, the agreement reaffirms Kyoto as a central engine of global climate change policy. It also sends a strong signal that carbon emissions will continue to have a market value in future.
- The process "shall begin without delay and shall be conducted in an open-ended ad hoc working group of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" which would report to each annual session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto's parent treaty.
- "The group shall aim to complete its work and have its results adopted as early as possible and in time to ensure that there is no gap between the first and second commitment periods."
- The Marrakech accords, or "Kyoto rule-book", were adopted, strengthening the legal framework for implementing the protocol. Key elements include agreements on a compliance regime to enforce the protocol's rules; a stronger, better funded clean development mechanism; and the launch of joint implementation.
Some environmental groups say the agreement falls short of what is needed because it does not include a fixed date for talks to end or cite any move to support targets on emissions cuts.
Parties to the parallel UNFCCC agreed to hold a thorough dialogue on long-term actions to tackle climate change and to report back, probably by the end of 2007. A series of workshops is planned to develop the broad range of actions needed to respond to the climate change challenge.
The key significance of these parallel negotiations is that it will include developing countries and countries that refuse to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol such as the USA and Australia. It keeps open the possibility of a broader global framework involving both these groups. However, the USA would only agree to informal talks that will not "open to any discussion leading to new commitments."
For some, the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2005 was historic, for others without the commitment of the USA they will still seem meaningless. Pro Enviro will continue to follow the debate and keep you up-to-date.
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