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Kyoto protocol progress report |
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Guidelines under
the articles 5, 7 and 8 establish methodological issues concerning any
Kyoto Protocol progress report released, especially during the
compliance period (2008-2012). These articles of the Kyoto
Protocol regard The Annex I Parties' review and reporting of
information, national information systems, and proper greenhouse gases
inventories. The first step towards creating a rich database with all
Annex I Parties' information was the submission of the initial reports.
This has been last updated on the 13th of November 2008, with the
revision of Bulgaria's initial report. Obviously, such a collection of
initial data offers at any moment a very clear perspective on the
development and application of Kyoto policies, provided that all
Parties regularly update their data.
A continuous update from each Party, above all those in Annex I, is
regulated by the commitment of all Parties to form national GHG
emissions estimation systems, operating under agreed methodologies, as
stated in article 5, paragraphs 1 and 2. Annual greenhouse gas
inventories and regularly compiled national communications are to be
submitted by each and every Party, along with all needed additional
information, proving that the Party is in compliance with the Protocol.
All this gathered information is to be processed by expert reviewers to
maintain an accurate Kyoto Protocol progress report.
As of 4th of June 2009, 145 national communications have been
made by
non-Annex I Parties. The countries comprising Annex I, are submitting
yearly their national communications to the UNFCCC secretariat in Bonn,
Germany, where they are made publicly available. Thus the Kyoto
Protocol progress report is intended to be a reliable and transparent
review over the entire 5-years compliance period, 2008-2012.
Unfortunately, there are some negative aspects attached to the Kyoto
Protocol progress report, as some Annex I Parties, for instance Canada
have current GHG levels exceeding those of the year 1990, in Canada's
case by a staggering 33%, and a 46% predicted for 2012. Moreover, USA
is still not complying to the Kyoto Protocol, which it did not ratify
nor accepted. As the US are the leading greenhouse gases emitter, with
23% of the total world-wide emissions, the 17% increase in their GHG
emissions relative to 1990 levels is bound to unnerve the international
community.
Nonetheless, the Kyoto Protocol progress report provides, in the least,
a reliable source of information which helps in keeping track of the
bulk planetary greenhouse gases emissions and of the measures that are
being taken in various areas to reduce them, thus providing a long-term
incentive for more and more Parties to try harder to comply with their
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
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