The First Conference of the Kyoto Protocol Countries was a Success

At the end of the Conference that was held in Montreal from November 28 to December 9, 2005, the countries had agreed to more than 40 decisions on the Kyoto Protocol and the Climate Convention, including:
• a compliance regime for the Kyoto Protocol;
• the formal start of Joint Implement and Clean Development;
• a five-year action plan of adaptation to climate change and the modalities of a fund to help the least developed countries adapt to climate change;
• the start of “a process to consider further commitments” for developed nations beyond 2012. A working group will start to work on this in May 2006. More than 150 countries participate, but not USA. The mandate of the group unfortunately lacks a clear end date for negotiations; as such, 2008 was proposed by many NGOs;
• in parallel, an exploratory global “dialogue” on future steps to combat climate change without “negotiations leading to new commitments.” USA will participate in this dialogue.

One of the key issues during the negotiations was the reluctance of the USA to make any meaningful commitments on emission reductions. While the solution was the above-mentioned double approach, another possible way around the “US problem” would be to expand the Kyoto Protocol to include cities, states and other non-status actors such as multi-national corporations. This was discussed at the conference, but no formal agreement was made.

Read More:
Article: Montreal Marked a “New Era” for Gender and Climate
Sustainable Energy News # 51 link
NGO views:
Press Release Climate Action Network: www.climatenetwork.org