The Kyoto Protocol sets targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by industrialised countries from 2008 to 2012. At the 13th conference in Bali it was decided to work towards an agreement for the subsequent years. The negotiation is to be concluded in Copenhagen in 2009. Ministry of Climate and Energy of Denmark

From 3 to 14 June 1992 heads of state and representatives from 172 governments across the whole world met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The background to the meeting was gloomy. Two years previously the UN’s climate panel (IPCC), in its first synthesis report, pointed out that there was a real risk that human activities – especially the consumption of coal, oil and gas – could affect the earth’s environment to a hitherto unseen and potentially very serious extent. "The earth’s future is in danger" was the message.

The conference in Rio – which officially was called the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, but went under the name "Earth Summit" – was set up on the basis of this warning. It resulted in the first international agreement to limit emissions of greenhouse gases: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The climate change convention is a so-called framework convention. This means that it does not represent the last word on the fight against climate change. It is stated in the treaty that it is to be revised and expanded over time. Neither does it set any binding targets, but aims to get member countries to reduce their emissions in order to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the Earth’s climate system. The target was for emissions of greenhouse gases in 2000 to stabilize with those in 1990.

More than 150 countries signed the climate convention at the Rio conference itself, and on 21 March 1994 the convention came into force after it had been ratified or approved by other means by at least 50 countries. It thereby became legally binding.

During the 1990s it soon became clear that the UNFCCC convention in itself would not change developments towards growing emissions of greenhouse gases. In 1997 the convention was therefore expanded to include the so-called Kyoto Protocol, which for the first time sets binding targets for how much the industrialised countries should reduce their emissions by 2012. The protocol sets binding targets for the greenhouse gas emissions of 37 industrialised countries. A group of countries that have ratified the UNFCCC have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol and are therefore not covered by the Kyoto Protocol. The most prominent of these is the USA.

The Kyoto Protocol sets targets for emissions from 2008 to 2012. At the 13th annual conference of member countries (COP13) in Bali it was decided to work towards a new agreement for the subsequent years. The plan – which is called the Bali Action Plan – aims towards a new agreement which is to be negotiated at the 15th annual conference – COP15 – in Copenhagen in 2009.

The Copenhagen Accord promises to stop global temperatures rising by more than 2⁰C and give money to poor countries to fight global warming. But the agreement, described as an "accord", will not be legally binding after countries including China objected.

China opposed turning the Accord into a treaty "for the wrong reasons: clinging to their version of what they think international organisations should not do".

Duncan McLaren, (formerly of Caritas Internationalis) and now the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "This US-brokered agreement is the weakest possible conclusion that could have come out of Copenhagen. "It simply adds to the confusion surrounding the climate regime that these talks were supposed to clear."

Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said: "Well meant but half-hearted pledges to protect our planet from dangerous climate change are simply not sufficient to address a crisis that calls for completely new ways of collaboration across rich and poor countries. "While the world is forced to wait for a new legally-binding deal, we need to encourage more local action to reduce emissions."

UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said he believed the agreement was a good one because it gave money to poorer countries and set targets for countries’ carbon emissions. He said: "What became clear in the negotiations was that developing countries didn’t want to sign up to legal ly binding targets."

Recognition of a non-binding accord is a long way from a legally binding agreement, and in that sense the summit has exposed a failure of leadership when faced with a great global challenge. "The task is now to ensure that Copenhagen represents only a missed opportunity and not the last opportunity."

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama told everyone how important a real deal would be, and then they failed to deliver.

Under the Accord, countries will be expected to reveal what action they plan to take on climate change by next February. They will also provide information to other nations on their progress. But the deal is unlikely to become legally binding until the next UN climate talks in Mexico next year and may never come into force.

CONCRETELY, WHAT DOES THE ACCORD MEAN...?
1. Countries will not let temperatures rise by more than 2⁰C by 2050.
2. More than £600million will be put aside to help poorer nations.
3. Countries will submit action plans by February next year and provide information to other nations - but they will not be officially monitored by other countries. The Accord is unlikely to become legally binding until climate change talks in Mexico in nearly a year’s time.

(Gathered by the OMI Media & Communications – Philippines)