Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
This has been the approach of most nations up to now, but it will not
solve the problem.
2. Unilateral actions, in which countries set their own objectives
and policies but do not coordinate them with other countries. This has
been the route increasingly followed by most countries. For example,
the United States has included climate-change objectives in regulatory
policies since 2008. The U.S. climate-change policy proposed by the
Obama administration in 2009 had a cap-and-trade mechanism that ap-
plied only to the United States but did not coordinate policies with other
countries. Similarly, China has pledged to lower its CO
2
emissions per
unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared to 2005, but China
also stated that it is not obliged to subject its programs to international
monitoring and accountability.
3. Regional approaches, an important example of which is the EU's
Emissions Trading Scheme. It sets limits for all members of the EU, cov-
ering approximately half of EU CO
2
emissions. It is a cap-and-trade plan
in which countries are allocated emissions allowances, which can be
traded on carbon exchange markets. Regional agreements have the po-
tential to decrease the number of bargaining units and might lead to an
effective international agreement. However, at present the EU is unique
among regional federations, and other groups of countries (such as the
Arab League or the African Union) have not forged emission control ar-
rangements.
4. Binding international agreements among most nations to limit
GHG emissions using a combination of regulatory and tax measures.
The history of this approach is discussed in the next section.
A SHORT HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE AGREEMENTS
The risks of climate change were recognized in the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratifi ed in 1994. That doc-
ument stated, “The ultimate objective . . . is to achieve . . . stabilization
of greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would
prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”
3
The fi rst step to implement the Framework Convention was taken
in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. High-income countries agreed to limit
