Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Kyoto Protocol


The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.

The Kyoto mechanisms

Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Kyoto Protocol offers them an additional means of meeting their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.

The Kyoto mechanisms are:

Emissions trading – known as “the carbon market"
Clean development mechanism (CDM)
Joint implementation (JI)
(Source: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
(Image source: Cbc.ca)

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