News
Publish date: December 2, 2010
Written by: Anne Karin Sæther
Translated by: Charles Digges
News
Norway is the biggest defender of the Kyoto Protocol at the UN climate negotiations here in Cancun, Mexico. But like the EU, Norway has posed the condition that for an extension of Kyoto to work, other major countries must agree. That appears to be extremely unlikely.
Earlier this week, Japan said that under no circumstances would it extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond its first compliance period, which expired in 2012. Japan will not take responsibility for emissions cuts unless the United States and China take the same responsibility.
What Russia will do is uncertain, but hardly anyone here thinks Russia and Canada want a continuation of the Kyoto Protocol while the United States – which never ratified the protocol – continues to stand outside its umbrella.
Developing countries would in turn like their own guarantees that rich countries that have undertaken CO2 reductions under the Kyoto Protocol are not shirking their historic responsibility. Developing countries are clear in their assertion that developed countries must clean up the climate problems that have emerged due to their emissions from oil, gas and industry in the rich world.
Bellona’s Søyland, emphasizes that what is most important is that the world gets a treaty that actually works:
“The most important thing is not what the agreement states, if there is Kyoto, or something else. The most important thing is that we get the emissions reductions we need, “he said.
“The challenge, of course, is that Kyoto’s end date is rapidly approaching and we still do not have adequate alternatives that can take over. This creates a big hole in which countries and companies do not know which international rules to relate to in the future and we also need regional and national agreements, as well as more specific agreements in sectors such as transportation, steel and cement,” said Søyland.
“One can also imagine systems based on emissions intensity, ie a limit for CO2 emissions per kWh electricity produced, as California has done,” added Søyland.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.