The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC], which commits its parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.
Adoption of the protocol was extended to the Bailiwick in 2006.
The Doha Amendment re-established the protocol’s commitment period from 2013-2020, at which time the Paris Agreement will come into effect.
‘In November 2017, the UK deposited its instrument of acceptance of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol [Kyoto 2],’ a spokesman for P&R said.
‘The Bailiwick of Guernsey has requested extension of Kyoto 2, and discussion continues with the UK in this regard.
‘We continue to observe developments relating to this topic, including the emergence of the Paris Agreement.’
The Paris Agreement, which comes into force in 2020, sets out a global action plan to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2C and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C.
Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
Last week, Guernsey Electricity signalled its intention to bring in a new carbon emissions reporting system in line with the best practice requirement set out in the Paris accord.
The new system will enable the company to disclose all its greenhouse gas emissions rather than carbon-only and allows the data to be broken into direct emissions sources.
So far, 194 international parties and the European Union have signed the Paris Agreement. The United States is the most noteworthy defector, having initially signalled its intention to sign in 2016, with president Donald Trump saying subscription to its requirements would make the US ‘uncompetitive with other countries’.
‘We knocked out the Paris Climate Agreement. It would have been a disaster. Would have been a disaster for our country,’ he said on Friday.
Since 1990, there has been a cumulative decrease of 27.9% in Guernsey’s greenhouse gas emissions.
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