When the Kyoto Protocol came into force in 2005, it was felt that a new dawn had begun, not because the rest of the world realised it could act without American support, but because it saw the birth of carbon emissions trading. For the first time ever, nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas production, and agreed on a number of 5.2% in the years 2008 – 2012.
As a whole, this target was met, if only due to the financial crisis and subsequent slowing down of the world economy. However it is less clear if individuals like China, who saw massive growth, managed to maintain a grip on their coal burning, or even if the EU was able to stay within their limits.
Still, the global impact of Kyoto was huge, if nothing else but for the sense of a planet acting as an (almost) whole to tackle a planetary problem. A spirit of unity that it is hoped will still be felt at the next round of talks in Paris, at the UN Climate Change conference due in December 2015. Which, as it is the 21st conference of its kind, environmentalists would like to see the negotiations come of age, and secure a legally binding commitment to limit global temperature rise to 2°C.
Optimists hope that this commitment will accelerate the introduction of advanced technologies and facilitate the exchange of information between regions industrial sectors. Pessimists point to the fact that during preliminary talks in Marseilles earlier in June of this year, countries declared their processes for reduction of greenhouse gases but without being clear whether or not those steps were sufficient to limit the global temperature rise to the required 2°C.
Realists hope that the summit will allow for the implementation of Proportional Carbon Pricing. This newer system is a development of emissions trading that takes into consideration areas with lower industrial activity. Also possible is the summit’s ability to find mechanisms for reducing energy consumption and a gradual switching towards renewable energy and energy efficient storage. Although this is mainly a question of optimal investment in technology and pilot projects, to allow a rapid decrease in development costs.
Ultimately, the question of which direction emissions trading or carbon pricing takes it still unanswered. Whether it is adapted on a mutually agreeable platform, enforced on smaller, developing regions by political and economic powerhouses or abandoned altogether is yet to be known.