All Kyoto Protocol Rules Now Legally Binding in Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 11, 2004 (ENS) - All the requirements under the 1997 Kyoto climate protocol are now legally binding in all 15 member states of the European Union. On Wednesday, a decision of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers entered into force that governs the way in which emissions of six greenhouse gases covered by the treaty have to be monitored and reported.

The targets of the European Union and its individual member states related to the emissions of greenhouse gases became binding in 2002. The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the only international framework to combat global warming.

With this step, all provisions of the protocol have become EU law, and the EU has reaffirmed its global leadership in fighting climate change and implementing the protocol. On May 1, the EU expands to take in 10 new member states to the east of the current bloc, and all provisions of the protocol will also apply to them.

"Now we have adopted all the necessary EU legislation to carry out our commitments under the Kyoto Protocol," said Margot Wallstrom, European Commissioner for the Environment. "This means that we are fully implementing this important protocol even before it has entered into force at international level."

European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom of Sweden (Photo courtesy Arena Centre for European Studies)

Apart from the United States, which has decided not to ratify, Russia is the only country that has not ratified yet and whose 1990 emissions would help reach the 55 percent threshold.

The European Commission has been courting Russia, hoping by showing a good example to persuade Russian leaders to ratify the protocol. Wallstrom said, "As a strong bloc of soon to be 25 countries, the European Union has a special responsibility to show global leadership and pave the way for other countries to follow suit."

Russia has given no clear indication to date whether or not ratification will be the national policy. Observers say Russia will wait to make a decision until after presidential elections set for Sunday, March 14.

The Kyoto Protocol and agreements reached at subsequent Conferences of the Parties envisage strict accounting, reporting and review procedures of emissions to ensure transparency as well as a high quality and comparability of data. "This is one of the elements that make the Protocol one of the most advanced, innovative and comprehensive environmental treaties in the world," Wallstrom said.

The new EU decision provides concrete procedures for accounting, reporting and review of emissions, replacing and widening the previous Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism Decision, which only covered requirements arising from the 1992 UNFCCC.

In addition, it addresses reporting and monitoring issues related to the EU's Burden Sharing Agreement, under which each member state has accepted an individual target for limiting or reducing its greenhouse gas emissions when the EU ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002.

The protocol commits the EU to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent below 1990 levels during the first commitment period 2008 to 2012. Under the Burden-Sharing Agreement, which became legally binding for the member states when the EU ratified the Kyoto Protocol April 25, 2002, this target is shared between the current 15 member states.

Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, England is Europe's largest coal fired power station and has the world's largest flue-gas desulfurization installation to remove sulfur from the emissions. The 400MW power station generates one tenth of Britain's total energy demand. (Photo Ian Britton courtesy FreeFoto)

The decision also provides for the necessary coordination between the EU and the member states during the UN compliance and review procedures envisaged by the Kyoto Protocol. Within the EU, the Commission must assess progress annually and, if necessary, propose suitable measures.

The new rules become binding just as new evidence is emerging of global climate change that is likely to affect Europe. A study from the University of California published today in the journal "Nature," shows, for the first time, that the deep ocean circulation system of the north Atlantic, which controls Ice Age cycles of cold and warm periods in the Northern Hemisphere, is coupled to salinity levels in the Caribbean Sea.

This research reinforces concerns that global warming, by melting the glacial ice of Greenland, could "quickly and profoundly" change salinity and temperatures in the north Atlantic Ocean.

One consequence might be much colder weather in northern Europe and Britain and perhaps even in eastern Canada and the Northeast United States, the researchers warn.

Authors Matthew Schmidt, a graduate student, working with geology professor Howard Spero of UC Davis, and geology professor David Lea of UC Santa Barbara explain that during Earth's warm periods, like the present one, surface ocean currents transport heat from the tropics to the cool northern latitudes.

The new data, a record of Caribbean salinity for the past 120,000 years, show that when the northern hemisphere warmed, Caribbean salinity levels dropped.

The authors hypothesize that elevated Caribbean salinity, which is transported via the Gulf Stream to the north Atlantic, amplifies the heat transport system by increasing the deep ocean circulation rate.

When the North Atlantic cools, Caribbean salinity builds up because the deep ocean circulation drops to a fraction of its previous rate and the Gulf Stream no longer transports salty water away.

"Our atmospheric and oceanic systems are integrally linked," Dr. Spero said. "Unnatural climate perturbations, such as global warming, can impact ocean circulation and nudge the system towards a threshold that could produce an abrupt climatic change."