Friday, December 18, 2009

climate change






climate change

climates

क्योटो PROTOCOL

The Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanisms:

By using the flexible mechanisms, companies and countries can choose to reduce CO2 emissions where it is most cost-effective, for example in a developing country.

The flexible mechanisms are among the most central points in the Kyoto Protocol and the object of extensive discussion, but at COP7 in Marrakesh in 2001 agreement was reached on their ultimate form. The mechanisms are called flexible, as they are intended to supplement the countries’ or companies’ own reductions in CO2. The issue of where in the world the reductions take place is irrelevant for the climate, and the flexible mechanisms allow this fact to be exploited. By using the mechanisms, companies and countries can choose to reduce CO2 emissions where it is most cost-effective, for example in a developing country. This also involves the transfer of technology, financing and skills to developing countries.

The Kyoto Protocol operates with three flexible mechanisms:

International Emissions Trading: The 37 countries that in the Kyoto Protocol have set targets for the quantity of greenhouse gases they are allowed to emit are able to trade these emissions permits among themselves. If a country has a surplus of these “CO2 quotas” because it has switched to a cleaner form of economy, it can sell them to one of the other countries.

Clean Development Mechanisms and Joint Implementation: Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) are mechanisms whose purpose is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in concrete projects and concurrently to promote climate initiatives and sustainable development in developing countries. The projects generate CO2 credits that correspond to the reduction in greenhouse gases achieved by the project. The country that is hosting the JI or CDM project can sell the credits it obtains to companies or industrialised countries, which can use the credits to supplement domestic or internal initiatives.

One credit corresponds to one ton of CO2 emissions. CDM credits are reductions from concrete projects in countries with no reduction obligations in the Kyoto Protocol. These projects are carried out in developing countries. JI credits are reductions from concrete projects in countries that have undertaken a reduction obligation for greenhouse gases in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. These projects are carried out primarily in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Up until the summer of 2008 just over 1,100 CDM projects had been approved. In total they represent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of about 220 million tons of CO2 equivalents a year. The UNFCCC’s secretariat expects CDM projects covering a total of 2.7 billion tons of CO2 equivalents to be launched in the period from 2008 to 2012. There has been less activity involving JI, and 22 projects had been approved up to October 2008.

COP15

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The goal of IPCC is to use scientific literature to evaluate the extent and understanding of climate changes, as well as the potential to adapt to or counteract climate changes.

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was established in 1988 by the special UN organizations for environment (UNEP) and meteorology (WMO) following the Brundtland Report ”Our Common Future”.

The goal of IPCC is to use scientific literature to evaluate the extent and understanding of climate changes and their effects, as well as the potential to adapt to or counteract anticipated climate changes.

It is a key point that the work in the United Nations Climate Change Panel follows normal procedures for scientific publications, in particular the principle of peer review. The scientific authors of the IPCC reports are all selected for reasons of their scientific expertise.

The authors’ task is to collate and evaluate the knowledge that is available in international scientific, technical and socio-economic literature using traditional scientific methods and working principles. Then, the reports are sent to specialists for review, and in a second round to government representatives from the member countries of the organizations.

Thus there are over 1200 independent scientific authors and 2500 reviewers who have taken part in the preparation of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report published in 2007.

IPCC's secretariat is based in Geneva and is organized into three working groups and one Task Force.

The first working group evaluates literature in natural science about climate and climate change. The second is concerned with the consequences of climate change, and the potential for adapting to them, while the third working group evaluates the potential for reducing the planet’s emissions of greenhouse gases, and thus limiting the climate changes. Finally, the Task Force is responsible for the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Program.

IPCC has published four Assessment Reports (in 1990, 1995, 2001 and 2007). Each Assessment Report consists of contributions from the three working groups and a Synthesis Report.