User login
Navigation
Search
The "Kyoto2" proposals for how to cut worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases
29 May, 2009 - 10:08
Kyoto2 aims to prevent catastrophic climate change by regulating greenhouse gases in a way which is effective, efficient and equitable:
? It is a global system to auction transferable Permits to pollute the atmosphere with industrial greenhouse gases up to a series of annual caps defined at levels that would prevent dangerous interference with the Earth’s climate system.
? As a global system it would apply equally in all countries. There would be no national emissions allocations and no need for the "territorial accounting" that characterises the Kyoto Protocol and the EU ETS.
? Greenhouse gas emissions would be regulated "upstream," that is, as near as possible to the point of production, and in the case of emissions from fossil fuels, as close as practical to the point of production of the fuels themselves.
? This system would create market incentives for the wide scale and systematic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the development of alternatives, to be supported in turn by regulations and standards aimed at overcoming specific market failures.
? The funds raised at auction would be invested to tackle both the causes and the consequences of climate change, with an emphasis on addressing the needs of the poor and those most adversely impacted, including to:
? Help adaptation to such climate change as is already inevitable,
? Accelerate progress towards a clean, energy-efficient, low-carbon global economy,
? Reform land use so as to conserve biological carbon within soils, peat lands, forests and other ecosystems, and reduce emissions from land of other greenhouse gases,
? Research low cost and environmentally benign geo-engineering options that could in extremis prevent a 'runaway greenhouse effect' from taking hold.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Kyoto2: How to Manage the Global Greenhouse, Oliver Tickell, Zed Books, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84813-025-8 pb. Web: www.kyoto2.org, Email: info@kyoto2.org.
KYOTO2 advantages
"If a product is made in China, by a company based in Singapore, using Australian coal, for a company in the UK, and exported to end users in the US, then which country should 'own' the emissions?" Oliver Tickell, 2008.
EFFECTIVE
? Kyoto2 is one of the most thoroughly developed proposals for controlling global emissions of greenhouse gases.
? By controlling greenhouse gases "upstream", near to their sources, Kyoto2 simplifies organisation and administration.
? Kyoto2 sidesteps problems that arise in trying to assign CO2 emissions to countries:
? It avoids the complexity of trying to account for fossil carbon embodied in traded products.
? There is no need for special provision for international aviation and shipping.
? There are no worries about "additionality", double counting, and other problems associated with carbon offsets.
? Steadily decreasing annual caps provide relatively direct control over emissions.
? Kyoto2 provides control over a range of greenhouse gases, not just CO2.
EFFICIENT
? Unlike other rationing systems, Kyoto2 channels funds into mitigation and adaptation.
? The market in emissions permits promotes efficient allocation of resources.
EQUITABLE
? Kyoto2 helps to protect the interests of poorer people and countries—and future generations.
? Kyoto2 helps industries and countries make the transition from non-renewable to renewable sources of energy, delivering "the gain without the pain".
FURTHER INFORMATION
Kyoto2: How to Manage the Global Greenhouse, Oliver Tickell, Zed Books, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84813-025-8 pb. Web: www.kyoto2.org, Email: info@kyoto2.org.