Pros and Cons of the Kyoto Protocol

612 Words3 Pages
What are the pros and cons of the Kyoto Protocol? Do you think it should be followed? Why, or why not? Since the early 20th century the Earth average surface temperature has increased by 0.8°C and about two-thirds of the increase has been occurring since 1980[1]. The danger of global warming has become the most complicated issue among scientific communities and world leaders. The well-known fact is that the cause of the global warming is emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which is caused by human activities. To reduce the emission of the greenhouse gasses the Kyoto Protocol has been made. The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under this treaty the member countries commit themselves to reduce emission of the most dangerous anthropogenic greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, namely: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), and two groups of gases, hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs) and per-fluorocarbons (PFCs)[2]. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and came into effect on 16 February 2005. According to this treaty, the member countries must meet their obligations to reduce greenhouse gases emission primarily through national measures and “flexibility mechanism” offered by the protocol [3]. These mechanisms are International Emissions Trading (IET), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation [2]. The IET allows Parties to trade their emissions certificates. The CDM envisages cooperation between developing and developed countries for the purpose of achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments. The Joint Implementation envisages cooperation between developed industrialized countries for the same purpose. Currently there are 192 Parties which have signed
Open Document