Russia Signs Up for Kyoto Protocol
On the 4th of November 2004, Russia signed a bill confirming their membership of the Kyoto Protocol, allowing it to come into force early next year. This was an essential step forward for the protocol, as without this support from Russia it would not be able to proceed. The protocol needed to be endorsed by 55 industrial nations, accounting for at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 1990, but has been rejected by the United States, who are responsible for more than a third of the total emissions, and Australia.
Industrialised countries now have until 2012 to reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases to 5.2 % below the 1990 level (The Associated Press 05/11/04).
Levels of emission reduction vary and are specific for each developed country, for example the Kyoto target for France is a reduction of 8%, whereas Iceland are permitted to increase their emissions by up to 10% (see table 1).
The protocol encourages governments in addition to meeting the CO2 reduction target to co-operate with each other with the aim to improve energy efficiency, limit methane emissions, and manage carbon “sinks” such as land used for crops and grazing (UNFCC, 2004).
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Table 1: Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 1999 and Kyoto Targets for Emission Reduction
“+” indicates above and “-” Below 1990 Levels
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(Adapted from UNEP, 2002 at www.unep.ch/conventions)
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Country
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GHGs 1999 w/o sinks
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Kyoto Target (%)
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Austrailia
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484,699
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8
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Canada
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692,230
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-6
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France
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558,726
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-8
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Germany
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1,019,743
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-8
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Iceland
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2,696
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10
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Italy
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541,542
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-8
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New Zealand
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74,886
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0
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Spain
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369,856
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-8
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UK
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679,850
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-8
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US
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6,726,997
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-7
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