New Delhi: As hopes for any deal on
global warming dims at the Cancun meet later this year, UN
climate chief Christiana Figueres Wednesday made it clear that the
Kyoto Protocol will continue post 2012 as a second protocol
since it does not have a "sunset" clause.
"Yes, it (Kyoto Protocol) will continue to exist as a
second protocol because it does not have a sunset clause. It
does not end," said Figueres, newly-appointed executive
secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
Figueres, who is in India ahead of the UN meet on the
climate change at Cancun in Mexico, was replying to a query on
the fate of the Kyoto Protocol which seeks numerical targets
for cuts in emissions by rich nations but does not have any
emission caps for developing countries.
"What the governments are negotiating now is the
second commitment period.
"But the Kyoto Protocol continue to exist-- whether
there is going to be a second commitment period or whether
countries want to take all of the elements of the Kyoto
Protocol and put them in a different framework that is for
them to decide," she said.
The developed nations are pushing for a new treaty
other than the Kyoto Protocol that makes major growing
economies like India and China to take up the binding GHG
emission cuts, a move opposed by the latter citing their need
to walk on carbon path for sustainable development.
The UN climate chief also said that though there were
not much expectations from Cancun but we read it that
"countries are assuming their responsibility, that they`re
being realistic, that they`re being productive, that they`re
being constructive and that they`re counting on very clear
outcomes from Cancun."
Figueres put the onus on the governments to decide
the timeline for implementation of the agreements they
want to give, as it is "completely in their hand.
She was also of the opinion that Carbon Development
Mechanism (CDM) market can be worked beyond the Kyoto Protocol
framework.
The CDM) is one of the "flexibility" mechanisms in the
Kyoto Protocol by allowing the Annex I countries to meet part
of their caps using "Certified Emission Reductions" (CER) from
green projects in developing nations.
"Should the Kyoto Protocol go into the second period,
the CDM would of course the mechanism there... but that`s not
the only possibility for it. The additional possibility of the CDM is that the CDM
or some other market whatever the market they want to call it
can also be the part of the broader agreement...If the
governments want it to be..." she said.
PTI
