The Kyoto Protocol: A Flawed Approach to Climate Change Mitigation

World leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are set to meet in Copenhagen next month for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 to discuss updating the Kyoto Protocol and approving a framework for climate change mitigation. However, the current protocol's complexities and lack of binding obligations for developing countries have hindered its effectiveness. The protocol's failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions has led experts to suggest a simpler alternative: a worldwide carbon tax.

Key Takeaways:

• The Kyoto Protocol requires developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from 1990 levels, but the accounting process is extremely complicated and getting more so.
• Developing countries are not subject to the same obligations as developed countries, rendering reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries ineffective.
• The Kyoto Protocol has failed to achieve any meaningful impact on the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• A worldwide carbon tax on fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) as they come out of the ground could be a simpler and more effective approach to climate change mitigation.
• The money raised from such a tax could be used to mitigate the effects of global warming through carbon tax dividends or geo-engineering projects to reduce sunlight reaching Earth.
• Implementing a carbon tax would immediately make energy sources not relying on fossil fuels more economically attractive.

Statistics:

• 5.2%: Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions required by developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol from 1990 levels.
• 1990: Baseline year for greenhouse gas emissions measurements under the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2009: Year in which Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other world leaders are scheduled to meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Sources:

• Clearwater Times (2009)
• United Nations Climate Change Conference (2009)
• Contacts: Clearwater Times - no additional information provided for contacts