Climate_France_KyotoProtocolRevision

Policy Paper

Committee: Climate Topic: Kyoto Protocol Revision Country: France Moira Cleary Per. 3

BACKGROUND OF TOPIC:

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that is the first to try and solve the problem of rapid climate change due to greenhouse gases on a global scale. It was adopted by the United Nations’ International Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and ratified in 1997. The key idea here in the Protocol is to reverse the damage. The Kyoto Protocol works by calculating the amount of greenhouse gases a country emits, and then setting a quota for the country to stick to for a “commitment period” of four years, each time lowering the quota. For the current 2008-2012 commitment period, the quota is 5.2 percent lower than the emissions in 1995. However, this is only for the world’s developed nations, hereby referred to as Annex I nations. The world’s developing nations, Annex II nations, have no certain quota to stick to. The greenhouse gases that the Kyoto protocol aims to lower in our atmosphere are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons; however the most well-known and main culprit of global warming is carbon dioxide. There are many reasons why this treaty should be ratified by all nations: the rising of sea level, global temperature warming, the extinction of species unable to adapt to the rising temperatures, and very torrent and unpredictable weather patterns. It is predicted by most scientists that countries should stop adding pollutants to the atmosphere, because temperatures will continue to rise even if we do stop polluting.

UN INVOLVEMENT:

The UNFCCC was brought about by the UN in 1992 to help solve the problem of greenhouse emissions. At about this same time, the Kyoto Protocol was being negotiated in Japan. As a result, the UNFCCC adopted it and urged all nations to ratify it in about 1997. So far, the urging has worked with the exception of a few key countries, including the United States of America, the greatest emitter of these greenhouse gases. The UNFCCC has a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol already underway, expected to be ratified in late 2009, because there are a few flaws that need to be cleared up. The UN has created ways to help countries with making their quotas if it is too difficult: on is carbon credits, which can be bought through the UN or in carbon markets and count towards their reduction quota, and a country can do a joint implementation, which is where two countries can pair up and have a quota between the two of them. If a country fails to meet their quota, there is a punishment of an additional 30 percent drop in emissions in one commitment period and the suspension of purchasing carbon credits.

COUNTRY POLICY:

France has already ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and we do intend to keep to our quota. However we do find some unfairness in the fact that developing nations do not have carbon quotas. We believe that they too should have some sort of boundaries so that they do not take complete advantage over their status, but just a boundary, not a reduction. We do not call for a complete revision on the Kyoto Protocol, just a few minor changes to make it a more useful item. We have created a new type of car with the usage of new technologies that has very low carbon emissions, which proves that we are willing to make some changes to our economy to make our quota.

SOLUTIONS:

France does not call for a complete revision of the Kyoto Protocol. In Article 20 paragraph 1, the Protocol claims that any Party can amend it, so we believe that all the changes that need to be made can be done through amendments. Such amendments could be that Annex II countries still do not have quotas, but there is a certain amount of emissions that the country cannot pass so they do not take advantage of their country’s state. Another amendment that could be made is for those certain countries that already have emissions lower than that of their quota. For example, the country of Australia has emissions lower than those that they had in 1995. Because they are already lower, technically Australia can allow their emissions to grow haphazardly. We can fix this problem with a quota that is lower than what they are currently emitting, but not as high as those who already need to reduce. France believes that there are some very key industries that would help the reductions with all countries. If all of the countries set their own quotas in the industries that produce the most emissions, we believe that the country’s quota can be very easily met.

SOURCES:

http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html http://www.kyotoprotocol.com/ http://www.state.gov/www/global/oes/fs_kyoto_climate_980115.html http://www.energyrefuge.com/ http://untreaty.un.org/English/notpubl/kyoto-en.htm http://www.un.int/france/documents_anglais/010726_mae_voynet_ecosoc.htm http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/50815.pdf http://engineers.ihs.com/news/eu-en-natl-allocation-plan-3-07.htm