Daily Times

The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement on climate change, was signed on January 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan to limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Although the protocol entered into force in 2005, its achievement remains questionable.

Many countries may be complacent that they have reduced carbon emissions. But from the review of the data, it is not seen anywhere, instead, many people have opined that the situation is getting worse day by day. Bill Clinton was the US president when the treaty was executed.

He hailed it as an ‘environmentally and economically robust deal’. But ironically, US lawmakers rejected the deal in the Senate, and Bill Clinton’s successor, President George W. Bush, withdrew America’s support for the Kyoto Protocol. The Bush administration has criticized the Kyoto Protocol, saying that 80 percent of the world’s countries have been exempted from emission standards in the agreement. Also, there is a danger of economic damage to the United States due to this.

Russia is a major power. According to Andrey Illaryonov, a former adviser to the country’s President Vladimir Putin, since human civilization is now based on the use of hydrocarbons, the adoption of the Kyoto agreement could have a negative impact on the Russian economy. Several developed and developing countries are major sources of carbon dioxide emissions and have not imposed any restrictions on themselves. So Illarionov’s comment regarding the Kyoto agreement is discriminatory.

Airplanes used to transport participants to the conference will emit huge amounts of environmentally damaging nitrogen oxide gas.

James E. Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and distinguished climate scientist, claimed that the United Nations Climate Change Conference (including the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP 15 and Kyoto) held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, 7-18 December 2009 included the Fifth Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol) a ‘farce’. He planned to boycott it. According to him, it is essentially trading in the name of emissions cap, known as ‘cap and trade’. Here ‘cap’ refers to limiting or capping the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions. This is accomplished by issuing emission credits or carbon credits, where a certain amount of carbon dioxide is allowed to be emitted.

According to Hansen, through this “they are selling luxury”. Through this, developed countries are trying to absolve themselves of their responsibilities in exchange for giving small financial assistance to developing countries without reducing their own country’s emissions. The issue is very much like ‘killing a cow and donating shoes’. Hansen prefers and emphasizes the imposition of a ‘carbon tax’ rather than the ‘cap and trade’ of the Kyoto Protocol. Under his proposal, the tax would start at the equivalent of about $1 per gallon of gasoline, and the revenue collected would be returned directly to the public as a dividend against the carbon footprint.

States signatories to the Kyoto Protocol have committed to reducing emissions but do not appear to be keeping them. For example, Japan’s fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions have increased despite their strong commitment to this. Their use of coal has increased and although they have used various pollution control materials (offsets) to meet their objectives, these do not significantly reduce pollution. Greenhouse gases are no longer confined to the region or country from which they are emitted; Rather, they circulate in the atmosphere and spread everywhere. Therefore, not only high-emitting countries, but all countries worldwide must work to reduce emissions. Otherwise, the desired result will not be possible.

The agreement appears to be following a few charts like many other agreements without encouraging any innovation in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming. While the Kyoto Protocol emphasized carbon emissions, it did not mention any action on other serious air pollutants such as oxides of sulfur or oxides of nitrogen. Methane as a greenhouse gas causes various damages to the atmosphere, but the Kyoto Protocol does not provide any guidelines for its control.

That’s right, world leaders can meet once a year on the occasion of this protocol, as is the Conference of the Parties (COP), the 29th session of which is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 11-22. There will be discussions for a few days; There will be some agreements and disagreements. There will be politics of blaming each other: Airplanes used to transport participants to the conference will emit huge amounts of environmentally damaging nitrogen oxide gas. Finally, there will be a lot of talk in the media; However, there will be little effect in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing global warming.

It is only possible to get good results for all if any protocol is signed considering the global interest and not just the national interest based on the consensus of the states. If not, the climate change situation will become more dire due to global warming. Collective climate actions are urgent instead of empty promises.

The writer is a Bangladesh-based independent columnist and freelance journalist.