16 Kyoto Protocol Nations On Track to Meet Emissions Reductions, Through No Fault of Their Own
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 11.19.08
photo: Mathias Degen
Some preliminary data was recently released on how well the 39 nations which ratified the Kyoto Protocol are doing in reducing carbon emissions and the result for the group overall is, well, a mixed bag. Sixteen nations are on track to meet their obligations, while 20 are not.
Part of the reason: Between 1990-2006 emissions from the countries of the former Soviet Union declined by 36% as those nation’s economies crashed on the rocks. However from 2000-2006 emissions from these nations rose 7.4%. At the same time emissions from richer developed nations rose 10%.
The result it that emissions for the group as a whole are about 5% below 1990 levels, though from 2000-2006 they rose by 2.5%. This does not include data from three countries which have ratified the Protocol (including carbon emitting heavyweight Australia).
Canada Defiant on Emissions
Interesting to note is the reaction of Canada: Not only has the nation signaled that it does intend to meet its emissions reduction target of 6%, in the period between 1990 and 2006 its emissions rose by 21%. For the sake of comparison, emissions from the United States (which let’s remember did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol) rose by 14% during the same period.
No Time For Celebration Yet
So the story is, most of the reductions seen in greenhouse gas emissions were primarily because of economic and political hardship and not action taken by nations to reduce them.
As the UN’s top climate change official Yvo de Boer warned, none of this really should be seen as a sign of early achievement. There are countries in the group “that will have to make a great deal of effort” to reach their Kyoto commitments.
Not to mention that these statistics don’t include rising emissions from the developing world, which now account for over half of global emissions. So, we're hardly out of the woods...
via: New Scientist, The New York Times, and ENS
Carbon Emissions
53% of Global Carbon Emissions Come From the Developing World: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Japan’s CO2 Emissions Up 8 Percent Since 1990
Carbon Emissions in the UK 49% Higher Than Acknowledged: New Report Claims
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I'm sorry - I got lost at paragraph 2 where the comparison sets of years overlap.
At this point, the takeaway lesson I get is that economic crashes are good for the environment.
What else was I supposed to glean? I'm confused, and it seems like this article has some important lessons for us while we're in the midst of a global economic nuclear winter. Could someone smarter than me clarify?
One reason Canada's performance is so pathetic is the oil tar sands, which have grown monstrously in the past ten years because of increasing demand for oil and because of both Liberal and Conservative governments' complete failure to impose any kind of environmental controls on this development.
But before we go attacking countries and governments, let's remember that a big part of the problem is ourselves. Everyone expects governments to take action, but how many individuals have made the drastic changes that people like de Boer, Sir Nicholas Stern, and other climate change experts are insisting are necessary to avert a climate catastrophe? Probably the average TreeHugger reader does more than the average member of the general public, but almost all of us have much further to go.