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A stepping stone: the Kyoto Protocol may not hold all the answers to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions but many say it's a good first step.

Article Excerpt
Responding to the warning of the scientific community, governments around the world negotiated the Kyoto Protocol; an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty on global warming. It was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, and came into force on 16 February 2005 following ratification by Russia on 18 November 2004.

The treaty had to be ratified by industrialized countries responsible for at least 55 percent of total rich-country emissions to come into effect.

As of August 2005, a total of 153 countries had ratified the agreement including Canada (December 2002), the People's Republic of China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia (November 2004), and the 25 countries of the European Union (starting in May 2002 with all 15 then-members), as well as Romania and Bulgaria. Notable exceptions are the United States--the world's biggest energy consumer and its biggest polluter accounting for 25 percent of the industrial world's emissions--and Australia.

The Protocol calls on countries to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief gas contributing to global warming. Cuts are also required for five other greenhouse gases by 2012. Those who can't make the cuts can engage in emissions trading.

Under the treaty, industrialized countries have to meet individual targets of reducing or stabilizing their output of greenhouse gases from their 1990 levels. This is to happen over a four-year period starting in 2008. In November 2005, meetings will start on what to do after 2012.

Developing countries are not bound to reduce emissions. They get a free ride because they are responsible for only a small portion of the global greenhouse gas emissions, though this is a sore point among some Kyoto critics.

Reduction targets for industrialized countries were set as follows:

* Eight percent emission cuts by Switzerland, most Central and East European states, and the EU (which will meet its target by distributing different rates among its member states);

* Seven percent emission cut by the U.S (This doesn't mean much because the administration of George W. Bush has withdrawn from the Kyoto process);

* Six percent emission cuts by Canada, Hungary, Japan, and Poland;

* Russia, New Zealand, and Ukraine are to stabilize their emissions;

* Norway may increase emissions by up to one percent; and,

* Australia may increase emissions by up to eight percent, and Iceland may increase emissions up to 10 percent.

Countries can meet their targets in...

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