>> Kyoto Protocol 

In December 1997 at a conference in Kyoto, Japan, more than 150 governments world wide agreed upon the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ('The Kyoto Protocol). This agreement recognises that different nations should have different targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The individual targets for industrialised countries and countries with economies in transition ranges from minus 8% for EU countries to plus 10% for Iceland. However, on average, the protocol requires that developed countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% as compared to their 1990 emission levels. This target has to be accomplished by the first commitment period which is 2008-2012 (5). The targets set by the Kyoto Protocol will create a demand for cost-efficient ways to reduce emissions by a number of 'polluting' sectors such as oil, gas and coal production industries as well as those involved in power generation, transportation and waste management.

A key feature of the Kyoto Protocol is agreement on various 'Kyoto Mechanisms' which may be used by nations to achieve their targets set by the protocol. One such mechanism is that of emissions trading(6) which would provide the opportunity for countries to establish an international trading system for the purpose of meeting their commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. On the 14 November 1998 the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol met in Buenos Aires and agreed that a deadline of late 2000 should be set to establish rules and to enforce Kyoto Protocol guidelines for such a market based trading program.

The Australian government announced its ratification of the Kyoto Protocol at the Bali Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali in late 2007. While it is important that Australia returned to the international fold it is also critical to look to the future. The present Protocol runs until 2012. Negotiations are presently underway to develop a successor framework and it is hoped that such a plan will be agreed at the 2009 UNFCCC conference in Copenhagen.

5.  Article 3 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
6.  Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change