Faced with global environmental concerns, the Kyoto Protocol suggested that industrialised countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent by 2012 based on 1990 levels. The agreement entered into force in 2005 after being ratified by 127 countries.
Reasons for failure of Kyoto Protocol:
- It did not have broader participation. Kyoto could not convince US, world’s biggest emitter and superpower to participate, and this reason itself is actually enough to call it a failure. But there are a few more reasons.
- The Kyoto Protocol did not have any power to change incentives for states that did not cooperate or comply; something that World Trade Organization (WTO) is able to do well. For example, WTO had authorized Europe to impose trade restrictions against US for illegal steel tariffs, which made President Bush to withdraw the illegal tariffs. In another case, Canada approved the Kyoto Protocol however in 2005 Canada’s emissions were 33 percent above the Kyoto target.
Impact of Paris Accord
United States withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement because it feels that the Paris accord will weaken the U.S. economy, and have a negative impact on American businesses and workers.
Withdrawal of US was one of the reasons that had caused the downfall of its predecessor, the Kyoto Protocol, as well.
However, the Paris accord can still succeed (even without the U.S.), because of the following reasons.
- Almost every country had agreed to the creation of another climate agreement after the Kyoto Protocol failed, the signatories joined voluntarily, and this shows that they are committed in fighting climate change.
- Although the US government has withdrawn from the agreement, individual states and major companies in America wish to remain in the treaty and are willing to act independently to help achieve the goals that the U.S. has set.
However, some experts are of the opinion that even if the Paris agreement were implemented in full (compliance from all Nations), the reduction in global temperature by the year 2100 is going to be very tiny, and a lot for needs to be done by the international community to reduce the impact of climate change.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_Paris_Agreement
U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: Reasons, impacts, and China’s response: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674927817301028
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