The Kyoto ProtocolOn 3 December 2007, Prime Minister Rudd signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol as the first official act of the new Australian Government.

Australia has committed to meeting its Kyoto Protocol target, and has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.

Australia will participate actively and constructively in the negotiations working towards a post-2012 agreement which is equitable and effective.

Our position is that any binding commitments need to encompass both developed and developing countries if we are to be successful in tackling climate change.

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/kyoto/index.html

International climate change partnerships

In addition to multilateral action on climate change, Australia is working with bilateral partners, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, on practical actions that contribute to the global effort to respond to climate change.

1. Bilateral Partnerships2. China 3. South Africa4. United States 5. New Zealand 6. European Union 7. Japan

Bilateral Climate Change Partnership Programme

Through it's Bilateral Climate Change Partnership Programme Australia aims to:

1. undertake practical actions that achieve or facilitate emission reductions

2. build support for an effective global response to climate change

3. improve scientific understanding of climate change

4. build capacity to enable implementation of mitigation and adaptation programs

5. facilitate market opportunities for greenhouse technologies, products and expertise from Australia and partner countries and thereby expand the capacity for climate change action

6. foster direct involvement by industry, business, scientists and communities in bilateral projects to broaden participation in climate change action.

Arrangements for bilateral cooperation are currently in place with the United States, China, New Zealand, the European Union, Japan and South Africa. More information about Australia's Bilateral Climate Change Partnerships Programme.

Plurilateral Partnerships

Australia is also actively involved in a range of plurilateral initiatives on technology and policy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, including the Methane to Markets Partnership, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, the International Partnership for Hydrogen Energy, and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership.More information about Australia's participation in plurilateral partnerships.

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/partnerships/index.html

International Technological Initiatives

1. Methane to Markets Partnership 2. Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership 3. Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum 4. International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy

Methane to MarketsThe Methane to Markets Partnership is an international initiative that focuses on advancing cost-effective, near-term methane recovery and use as a clean energy source. The Partnership is designed to promote collaboration between developed and developing country partners - with strong participation from the private sector - to enhance economic growth, improve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It aims to promote the adoption of existing technologies focussing on methane emissions from coal mines, landfills and the oil and gas sector.

Australia joined the US led Partnership at its launch in November 2004. A major focus for Australia under the Partnership will be to advance collaboration on the recovery and use of coal mine methane with China - the world's leading producer of emissions in this sector. The Partnership might also provide opportunities for Australian companies specialising in landfill gas to develop export markets in China.

Country profilesAustralia is a member of the Partnership's Steering Committee, Coal Mine Methane Subcommittee, and Landfill Gas Subcommittee. Australia has submitted profiles of our landfill gas capabilities and coal mine methane to the relevant subcommittees:

1. Australia's Landfill Gas Country Profile 2. Australia's Coal Mine Methane Country Profile

More information on M2M is available at: www.methanetomarkets.org.http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/partnerships/technological.html#hydrogen

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international panel of scientists and researchers that provides advice on climate change to the international community. It is acknowledged by Governments around the world, including the Australian Government, as the authoritative source of advice on climate change science. It was established by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Program in 1988.

The role of the IPCC is to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risks of human-induced climate change. The IPCC provides policy relevant, but not policy prescriptive advice on the state of technical knowledge on climate change. The IPCC does not carry out new research nor does it monitor climate-related data. It bases its assessments mainly on published and peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature. The main purpose of IPCC assessments is to inform international negotiations on climate change issues.

Assessing knowledge of climate change

The IPCC has completed four comprehensive assessment reports to date, in 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2007. These reports have been instrumental in developing an international response to climate change including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol by providing a firm foundation on which to build climate policy.

Climate Change 2007   - The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/ipcc.html

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (http://www.unfccc.int) provides the basis for global action "to protect the climate system for present and future generations". Negotiated between 1990 and 1992, the UNFCCC was adopted in May 1992 and opened for signatures a month later at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Australia ratified the Convention in December 1992 - one of the first countries to do so. The Convention entered into force in 1994 after a requisite 50 countries had ratified it. There are now 186 Parties to the UNFCCC - almost all of the members of the United Nations. Parties to the Convention have agreed to work towards achieving the Convention's ultimate aim of stabilising "greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".

The text of the Convention can be downloaded from the UNFCCC web site at unfccc.int/not_assigned/b/items/1417.php.

What are Australia's obligations under the UNFCCC?

Parties to the UNFCCC have a number of commitments under the convention, including:

Submitting a national inventory of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGGI).

Implementing national programs to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impactsStrengthening scientific and technical research and systematic observation related to

the climate system, and promoting the development and diffusion of relevant technologies.

Promoting education programs and public awareness about climate change and its likely effects.

Periodically submitting comprehensive National Communications (ie reports) on activities to implement commitments under the Convention. Australia's National Communications and in depth reviews of them prepared by international review teams, can be downloaded from the UNFCCC web site at unfccc.int/national_reports/annex_i_natcom/submitted_natcom/items/1395.php.

Australia submitted its Fourth National Communication on Climate Change in December 2005.

In October 2001 the Bureau of Meteorology submitted a detailed national report on Australia's systematic observation of climate - Australia's Global Climate Observing System

How does the UNFCCC operate?

Decisions under the UNFCCC are made on the basis of consensus according to current operating practice. This means that, rather than voting, Parties aim to reach agreement through discussion and negotiation. The main negotiating forum is sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which typically take place at ministerial level.

Parties also negotiate in the two subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). Other matters, such as the development of technical guidelines for implementing COP decisions, are dealt with at UNFCCC workshops.

The administration of the UNFCCC is the responsibility of a secretariat (unfccc.int/secretariat/items/1629.php) based in Bonn, Germany. The UNFCCC secretariat is institutionally linked to the United Nations and is administered under UN Rules and Regulations. It is answerable to the COP and the subsidiary bodies, and has responsibility in three areas: executive direction, technical programmes and support services for the intergovernmental process.

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/unfccc.html

Publications

Books & reports

Global Initiative on Forests and Climate Australia's Forest Estate International Facts and Figures on the Forest Sector Meetings

Australia-China Climate Change Cooperation - Progress and Achievements 2003-2005 - 2006

Bilateral Climate Change Partnerships Programme - Programme GuidelinesAustralia's Fourth National Communication on Climate Change - A Report under the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2005 (GH599) Australia's Third National Communication on Climate Change - A Report under the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2002 (GH333) Australia's Global Climate Observing System - a detailed national report on systematic

observation of climate, Bureau of Meteorology, 2002Publications marked with a are available by calling 1300 130 606.< More climate change publications

International climate change links

Intergovernmental

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - www.ipcc.chUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - unfccc.int

International partnerships of which Australia is a member

APEC Energy Working Group - www.apecsec.org.sg/apec/apec_groups/working_groups/energy.html/

Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research - www.apn.gr.jp/en/indexe.htmlCarbon Sequestration Leadership Forum - www.cslforum.orgInternational Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy - www.iphe.netMethane to Markets Partnership - www.methanetomarkets.org

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership - www.reeep.org

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/publications/index.html

Resourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/international/publications/index.html

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/12/03/un-climate.html#skip300x250

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071203-AP-aus-kyoto.html

Articles

Why the Kyoto Protocol is essential to Australia's futureSeptember 7, 2004Hailstones during the worst drought for 100 years are a climate wake-up call for all of us, writes Bob Carr.

Major hailstorms in the middle of the worst drought in 100 years. What's going on?

Every time we flick the light switch on, we are contributing to global warming. In fact, energy production accounts for about 75 per cent of global greenhouse emissions.

The urgency of the task is highlighted by groundbreaking CSIRO research commissioned by the NSW Government. The report shows that:

_ The frequency of extremely high tides in Sydney (more than 2.2 metres) has tripled since 1950.

_ The average sea level of the Australian coastline has risen nearly 10 centimetres since 1920 and is projected to continue, with serious implications for some waterside communities.

_ The average maximum temperature has risen by 0.75 degrees and the average minimum temperature has risen by 0.85 degrees over the past 50 years.

_ The state's annual average rainfall has fallen by 14.3 millimetres a decade since 1950.

_ From 1957 to last year there has been an increase on average of 4.7 days per year exceeding 35 degrees and an increase on average of 12 nights per year exceeding 20 degrees.

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_ Decreases in the annual intensity and frequency of extreme daily rainfall in NSW are consistent with the decline in annual mean rainfall since 1950, with the strongest decreases along the coast.

_ Throughout the state, droughts have tended to become warmer.

And it concludes that "the most obvious explanation for warming in NSW since 1950 is the enhanced greenhouse effect".

The research paints a picture of more frequent and more severe droughts; more risk of natural disasters such as bushfires; more variability in weather conditions, including storms; rising ocean levels; and hotter weather. And that's bad news for our farmers, bad news for our emergency services and bad news for the environment.

The state, the research found, will experience the greatest warming in the north and the west. Spring and summer will also be warmer. Coupled with this will be lower rainfall in winter and spring, as well as a shift in rainfall patterns throughout the state.

Summer will be wetter along the coast and in the north, for example, but drier in the north-west.

Water flows, too, will be affected, adding greater uncertainty to the already difficult issue of water management. And, in some areas, the warmer temperatures may result in poorer water quality.

The news is worse for countries dependent on subsistence agriculture, such as Sudan, or countries susceptible to flooding, such as Bangladesh and our Pacific Island neighbours. Indeed, recent floods in Bangladesh caused losses totalling more than $8 billion, a staggering bill for a developing economy.

If we don't act now, the CSIRO says, we can expect temperatures to increase by between 0.2 and 2.1 degrees over the next three decades, with the greatest rise occurring in spring and summer.

And remember we're talking about global warming, so we also have to look beyond our shores. There are 2 billion people in the world who live without energy, many of them in Asia. They need the electricity we take for granted, and their governments rightly want to provide it. That means more power stations and more greenhouse gases - vastly more. Emissions per person in China and India by 2010 will be triple their 1990 level.

Some Asian countries are seeking to limit the impact of record oil prices through energy conservation.

For example, China has been restricting the use of air-conditioners, while electricity rationing has seen the lights on Shanghai's famed waterfront Bund turned off for several weeks over the past two months.

So while we focus on the consequences of global warming for Australia, the truth is this a global problem. And that means it can only be fixed by a global solution - in other words, the Kyoto Protocol or a variation on it.

Here the CSIRO report is encouraging. It shows global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could halve the negative impacts.

And think about this - any concern we show about greenhouse levels among our Asian neighbours will seem mighty hypocritical if we don't start taking some hard decisions ourselves.

The big question for Australia is whether we want to pass on a hotter, drier continent with more extreme weather to our children and the children after them.

And that's why the first bill to pass through Federal Parliament after the election must be the legislation ratifying Kyoto. As the CSIRO report shows, climate change is upon us. We're out of time.

Bob Carr is the Premier of NSW. This is an edited version of an address he gave to last night's session of the World Energy Congress, which is being held in Sydney this week.

World's biggest coal exporter Australia dumps Kyoto

CANBERRA - Australia, the world's largest coal exporter, will not ratify the Kyoto climate change treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gase emissions, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday.

Australia's rejection of the Kyoto treaty come a day after Japan ratified the treaty and urged nations like Russia and the United States, the world's biggest polluter, to sign up.Until now the Australian government had been undecided about whether it would join the list of about 50 countries which have endorsed the 1997 U.N. treaty designed to reduce heat-trapping gases blamed for rising global temperatures."It is not in Australia's interests to ratify the Kyoto protocol," Howard told parliament."For us to ratify the protocol would cost us jobs and damage our industry. That is why the Australian government will continue to oppose ratification," Howard said.Under the pact, industrialised nations must cut emissions by an average five percent by 2012 from 1990 levels, but 55 nations producing 55 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions - the main greenhouse gas - must ratify the pact to make it binding.But at Kyoto, Australia in fact won the right to increase its emissions by eight percent above 1990 levels.Yet Howard argued the arrangements of the Kyoto pact would not work while it did not impose reduction targets on developing nations and excluded countries like the United States.Howard said Australia's position in the context of Kyoto was unusual because Australia was a developed nation that was also a massive net exporter of energy."The idea that you can sign up to a protocol that would facilitate the export of dirty industries from this country into developing countries and therefore facilitate the flight of jobs from this country...would hurt this country," he said.Howard has gradually backed away from the treaty, which Australia signed but refused to ratify, since Washington abandoned the pact, saying it would harm its economy, and instead drew up a voluntary domestic plan.Howard's government has come under increasing pressure from carbon-intensive industries like mining to stay out of the pact.Australia signed a partnership with Washington in February to find practical approaches to dealing with climate change but denied this indicated Canberra was shunning Kyoto.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

UN climate change conference hails Australia Kyoto signingLast Updated: Monday, December 3, 2007 | 11:13 AM ETCBC NewsMore than 10,000 scientists, bureaucrats and politicians from 186 countries have gathered Monday on the Indonesian island of Bali for the beginning of what is perhaps the world's largest-ever conference on climate change.

Workers smoke near the globe portion of a giant mock thermometer representing global warming outside the venue of the UN climate change conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Monday.(Dita Alangkara/Associated Press)

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will run for the next two weeks as delegates work to lay the foundation for a new global treaty that will extend beyond the current Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Monday's session opened with delegates giving a standing ovation for Australia as the country's delegate, Howard Bamsey, announced Canberra was ratifying the Kyoto accord.

In Canberra Monday, Kevin Rudd fulfilled his Labour party's campaign promise by signing the paperwork to ratify Kyoto after the former diplomat was formally sworn in as the country's new prime minister. The move ends more than a decade of resistance to the environmental pact and leaves the United States as the sole developed nation that has not recognized the accord.

In their opening addresses, conference leaders urged delegates to move quickly to combat climate change.

"The eyes of the world are upon you. There is a huge responsibility for Bali to deliver," said Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the conference. "The world now expects a quantum leap forward."

The first week of the Bali conference will see scientists and bureaucrats debating the two main issues of climate mitigation, or how to get countries to reduce the carbon emissions that are raising world temperatures, and climate adaptation, aimed largely at helping the developing world prepare for higher ocean levels and extreme weather conditions.

The second week will feature the political element as the world's environment ministers try to agree on launching a new round of global treaty talks.

Canada to encourage 'constructive' agreement: Baird

Shortly before leaving Sunday, Environment Minister John Baird said Canada will head to Bali with a "solid" plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions and will push for a "constructive" agreement with other countries — including the world's big emitters of China, India and the United States — to encourage global reductions.

Baird is leading the official Canadian delegation, which does not include opposition politicians from the Liberal party, the NDP or the Bloc Québécois, a decision that was highly criticized on Parliament Hill when it was made last month.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Baird say that any new agreement must include all the world's major emitters of greenhouse gases and must impose absolute targets for them. Under Kyoto, the major emitters that are developing countries are exempt from targets because they are still developing their economies.

Baird's approach to the climate change talks has had its critics and some environmental groups warn that insisting developing countries sign on sooner than they are ready to could damage a future deal after Kyoto ends.

Baird has also come under attack by opposition MPs on Parliament Hill who say his government's environmental plan has done little to cut greenhouse gases and does not likely mean Canada will meet its Kyoto emissions targets in time.

The plan, laid out in April, has Canada reaching its targets by 2020 or 2025, instead of 2012, the year laid out in the international treaty to curb climate change.

With files from the Associated Press

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/12/03/un-climate.html#skip300x250

Australia Signs Kyoto Protocol; U.S. Now Only HoldoutBy Rod McGuirk in Canberra, AustraliaAssociated PressDecember 3, 2007

Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the paperwork Monday to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, making good on an election promise that will leave the U.S. isolated among industrialized countries in shunning the international global warming pact.

The dramatic step just nine days after Rudd was elected looked likely to send Australia's standing soaring at international climate change talks that started Monday in Indonesia and to intensify pressure on Washington to join the Kyoto framework.The Bali conference aims to launch negotiations toward a pact to replace Kyoto when it expires at the end of 2012.

(Related story: Dire Global Warming Forecast Issued by UN Panel [November 17, 2007])

Rudd, 50, led the left-leaning Labor Party to a sweeping victory in November 24 elections that ended more than 11 years of conservative rule under former Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Howard had steadfastly refused to ratify Kyoto, arguing that Australia would not agree to a pact setting greenhouse gas emission targets unless big polluters among developing countries, such as China and India, were also subject to binding targets.

Australia's overall contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions are small, but it is one of the largest polluters per capita and its stance on Kyoto is powerfully symbolic.

In a sign of the significance of Australia's policy shift, delegates and scientists at the conference in Bali erupted in applause Monday when Australia's delegate, Howard

Bamsey, told the plenary that Canberra was coming on board the Kyoto process. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071203-AP-aus-kyoto.html

Australia says carbon emissions keep growBy James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's carbon emissions would continue to grow due to a heavy reliance on coal for electricity, a government report said on Monday, although the country would meet its Kyoto emissions targets by 2012.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said emissions would grow by 108 percent of 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012, meeting commitments under the Kyoto Protocol which sets binding Greenhouse gas targets for developed nations.

Wong said the figures were good for Australia, and showed a cut in expected emissions, although emissions would continue to grow to 120 percent of 1990 levels by the year 2020.

"We should not be celebrating an increase in Australian greenhouse pollution," said climate lobbyist John Connor, from the Australian Climate Institute.

The driest inhabited continent is also the world's largest coal exporter with an economy reliant on fossil fuel for transport and energy, with about 80 percent of electricity coming from coal-fired power stations.

Australia is responsible for about 1.2 percent of global emissions, but remains one of the highest polluters per capita.

The former conservative government negotiated a generous deal under the Kyoto Protocol, allowing for a 108 percent increase in emissions by 2012, but then refused to ratify the pact, saying the targets would unfairly hurt the economy.

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change last December in his first act after being sworn in to power, leaving the United States isolated as the only developed nation not to sign up to the pact.http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSSYD22159520080225

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The United States and Australia were both involved in the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol, and secured a number of significant concessions, such as the inclusion of emissions from land clearing in Australia’s emissions target. However, neither country has ratified the protocol by incorporating it into domestic law.

USAWith less than five percent of the world's population, the United States is responsible for about 25 percent of total global warming pollution. Despite this, President George W. Bush withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto process in 2001, claiming that the Protocol was unfair to industrialized countries and would hurt the U.S. economy.

Although many industrialized countries are reducing emissions while growing their economies, the Bush administration has continued to oppose Kyoto and any mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The administration has attempted to cast doubt on the climate science, gag experts, and confuse the U.S. public about its solutions. The administration has also dramatically increased subsidies to the fossil fuel industry through the Energy Policy Act 2005.

Americans have not been waiting for the Bush administration to take action on climate change. Many states have introduced renewable portfolio standards for clean electricity, and seven north-eastern states have introduced mandatory limits on greenhouse pollution from power stations. California has legislated to cap emissions at 1990 levels by 2020, and is leading the Western Climate Initiative, which aims to reduce emissions in member states by 15% relative to 2005 levels.

For more information on state and local action in the U.S. read USCAN's report "Turning the Tide".

AustraliaAustralia has the highest emissions per capita of any developed

country in the world, and is the 17th largest total greenhouse polluter, even with only 20 million citizens. (Pew Centre report, Climate Data: Insights and Observations, December 2004)

Australia was involved in negotiating the Kyoto Protocol, and was one of the first countries to sign (a precursor to ratifying) in 1997.

Australia negotiated for itself the second most generous target under the Kyoto Protocol - agreeing to limit increases in greenhouse emissions by 8% (compared to an overall 5% decrease).

Prime Minister John Howard, said that Australia joining Kyoto would make a "massive contribution to the world environmental effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions but also to protect Australian jobs", and that Kyoto represented a "win for the environment and a win for Australian jobs".

After the US walked away from ratifying Kyoto, the Australian Government changed its policy and refused to ratify.

In 2001 Prime Minister John Howard said: "It [the Kyoto Protocol] will cost jobs - it will cost the jobs of unionist and non-unionists alike - and it will do very great damage to the resource sector of Australia, which is not in the national interests of this country."

Yet in 2003 Mr Howard said "Australia is on track to achieve its target of limited greenhouse emissions to 108% of 1990 emissions over the period 2008-2012, as agreed to at Kyoto."

So, if we're meeting our targets, in a booming economy with record low unemployment, how can ratifying Kyoto be bad for the economy and bad for jobs?

The Australian Greenhouse Office, projected that Australia's climate change pollution from energy generation (our biggest source of climate change pollution) will increase to 146% of 1990 levels, and industrial greenhouse emissions to 153% by 2012. This increase in climate change pollution highlights that Australia is not taking action on the true causes of climate change.

For information on Australia's performance relative to Kyoto targets, see "Tracking to the Kyoto Target 2005".http://www.cana.net.au/kyoto/template.php?id=3

About the Kyoto Protocol(Greenpeace)US President George Bush refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and John Howard follows his oil-driven lead.The Kyoto Protocol is the only legally binding international agreement that addresses the problem of global climate change.On 16 February, 2005, the international climate agreement, Kyoto Protocol, became law, laying the ground for the international community to combat climate change. The US and Australia refuse to support Kyoto.

The Kyoto Protocol is only legally binding international agreement that addresses the problem of global climate change. It sets up a framework for global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that can be applied for decades to come.

It's just the first step but the way forward is for countries to get on board and negotiate the next round of emissions reduction targets.

The Kyoto Protocol

Governments worldwide agreed in 1992 to reduce global greenhouse emissions and prevent dangerous climate change. Talks stemming from the UN Climate Convention led to the development of the Kyoto Protocol.

At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, governments worldwide signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change, agreeing to reduce their emissions. After five years putting the aims of the Framework Convention into effect, the Kyoto Protocol on climate change was agreed in

Kyoto, Japan. Australia initially joined many others in signing the Protocol.

The first phase of the Protocol requires developed nations to cut their emissions by a total of 5.2 per cent of 1990 levels by 2012, a small step to prevent climate change but a vital first step. Negotiations for future periods should lead to deeper cuts.

In 2002, after reaching agreements in Bonn and Marrakech, the European Union, Japan and many others ratified the treaty, bringing it close to coming into force.

Who has ratified the treaty?

To ratify the Kyoto Protocol, a country must sign the treaty and make it part of their domestic law. More than 126 countries have ratified or approved the treaty, including all 15 countries of the European Union (UK, Germany, France and others), Japan, Russia, Canada and New Zealand.Who hasn't?

US President George Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. ExxonMobil and other fossil fuel corporations wield enormous influence over him and have undermined international climate change negotiations. George Bush claims he wants to lead the world on climate change but he's really being led by ExxonMobil.

Almost 80 per cent of Australians believe we should ratify, without the US if necessary. Despite this, the Howard government refuses to ratify unless the US does.

What next?

The Kyoto Protocol became international law in February 2005. Despite this, the Howard government has restated its refusal to ratify the treaty.

Developed vs developing nations

The Kyoto Protocol recognises that developed (industrialised) countries are most responsible for climate change and that they have the financial and technical resources to reduce their emissions more than developing countries. That's why the treaty does not require developing countries to cut their emissions initially, although it does encourage them to work towards emissions reductions. They will negotiate binding targets at a later date.

Prime Minister John Howard criticises this arrangement. But, by ratifying the Framework Convention on Climate Change, Australia agreed in 1992 that developed countries are responsible for far greater greenhouse gas emissions than developing ones and thus should make the first move to reduce these emissions.

Of course, while some developing countries, like China and India, have total emissions higher than Australia's, their populations are also far higher. Measured on per capita emissions, there is no comparison: one person in Australia generates the same amount of greenhouse emissions as 20 people in India and 10 people in China.

Australia and the US: Kyoto spoilers

America is the largest polluter in the world. With just four per cent of the world's population, it discharges a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide. Unbelievably, Australia emits even more carbon dioxide per person than the US. But President Bush and Prime Minister Howard have tried to sabotage the Kyoto Protocol.

In negotiations, the Australian government watered down the treaty and filled it with loopholes. These loopholes have effectively brought emissions reduction targets down and allowed countries to cheat on their targets. The targets agreed to are now only a fraction of what's really needed to stop climate change.

Even after these negotiations, Australia and the US still refused to ratify the Protocol.Costs and benefits of Kyoto

Australia's position on the Kyoto Protocol risks the economy missing out on emissions trading and the dynamic global market in renewable energy. We'll be living in a Kyoto compliant world and Australia will face costs if it doesn't play the game. http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/climate-change/solutions/political/kyoto-protocol