Nations Agreed to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Binding targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were agreed for the first time by major industrial nations meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Kyoto on 1-11 December 1997.

After protracted and sometimes acrimonious negotiations, the Third Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, more simply referred to as COP-3, finally reached agreement after an all-night session and a one-day extension. The overall targets adopted for greenhouse gas emissions by 2008-12 are an 8% cut from 1990 levels for the European Union (EU), 7% for the USA, and 6% for Japan and Canada. Australia is allowed an 8% increase, while Russia has a target of 0% (i.e. 1990 levels). Compared with the opening positions of 15% for the EU, 5% for Japan, and 0% for the USA, this seems like a tidy compromise.

However, the protocol still has some way to go before it reaches the status of a binding agreement. It opened for signature in March 1998 and will remain open for one year. Only after that, i.e. from March 1999, will it be open for accession (ratification). The USA in particular has made it clear that it will not ratify any agreement unless key developing countries (for example China, India) make some meaningful commitments to control future emissions. The USA also requires there to be a suitable framework for emissions trading. Although such trading is allowed in principle in the Kyoto protocol, the details remain to be worked out by COP-4, which will convene in November 1998 in Buenos Aires.

Of course, even if not yet ratified, countries have clearly made a political commitment to meeting the targets they have accepted. Discussion of how these targets can be met is likely to intensify in each country affected in the near future. The existence now of clear numerical targets should serve to concentrate minds on what is practicable and what is not. It is in this context that the case for nuclear power must now be made.

For more information on the Kyoto Protocol look at the UNFCCC site.

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