From Japan to Copenhagen - long journey

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at combating global warming which is assumed to be the result of industrialization. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of November 2009, 187 states have signed and ratified the protocol. Most notable non-member of the Protocol is the United States, which is a signatory of UNFCCC and was responsible for 36.1% of the 1990 emission levels.

Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries commit themselves to a reduction of four greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons) produced by them, and all member countries gave general commitments. The countries agreed to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 level. Emission limits do not include emissions by international aviation and shipping.

The Protocol allows for several "flexible mechanisms", such as emissions trading, thus allowing developed countries to meet their GHG emission limitations by purchasing GHG emission reductions credits from developing, through financial exchanges, projects that reduce emissions from other countries, etc. The developed countries are also supposed to provide financial support and supply clean technology to other countries.

The objective of the Kyoto climate change conference was to establish a legally binding international agreement, whereby all the participating nations commit themselves to tackling the issue of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. The target agreed upon was an average reduction of 5.2% from 1990 levels by the year 2012.

China now exceeds the United States as the single largest GHG emitter, and accounts for more than a fifth of global GHG emissions. Per capita emissions in developing countries like India and China are relatively low due to the large population. China, India and other developing countries were not included in any numerical limitation of the Kyoto Protocol, because they were not main contributors to the greenhouse gas emissions in the pre-treaty industrialization period. However, even without responsibility under the Kyoto target, developing countries are also committed to share the common responsibility of all countries to reduce emissions.

India signed and ratified the Protocol in August, 2002. Since India is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments. India maintains that following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, the major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time. However, the U.S. and other Western nations assert that India, along with China, will account for most of the emissions in the coming decades, owing to their rapid industrialization and economic growth.

In the on-going Climate Change Summit at Copenhagen, a new track “Long Term Cooperative Action” is being readied by selected developed countries which demands that all countries, including emerging economies, make commitments to reduce emissions as equals by 2050. In protest, the majority of G77 members, joined by India and China, staged a walkout. Negotiations are still continuing to find a solution to this global problem.