The coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol in February has been
greeted with enthusiasm by the UN, the member parties (especially the EU)
and the Climate Action Network of NGOs. It is a strong signal to the US
that international treaties can exist without their support. The WWF had a
Kyoto Party on the first day with a banner saying `Congratulations to the
Signatories of the Kyoto Protocol’. One participant commented that this
banner, when read backwards, reads ‘Fuck you, USA’. Perhaps in response,
the US has been a dominant force in the negotiations and right away on the
first day underlined its power by vetoing a minor agenda item about
informing other international negotiations about the dangers of climate
change. The agenda item ended up being accepted, but participants were
nevertheless surprised that the US had gone to such lengths.

If you ask anyone at the negotiations whether the Kyoto Protocol will lower
greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, I bet everyone will say no.
What they will say is that it is a first step in that direction, albeit
small. The rationale is that the Kyoto Protocol sets up structures that
make limiting greenhouse gases possible and once there is political
consensus to actually do so, it will be implemented really quickly using
these structures. Isn´t it strange that people do not see how silly this
is? If we wanted to lower emissions, we could just stop emitting.
Generally, the Kyoto Protocol offers governments and businesses the
opportunity to lower emissions elsewhere if they feel uncomfortable about
lowering emissions in their own backyard. This is what economists call
lowering the cost of mitigation, because making people use biodiesel buses
in Latin America is easier and therefore less costly than getting people to
take a bus instead of their car in Europe or the States.

More soon... comments are appreciated.