US commitments under the UNFCCC

R.A. Estrada-Oyuela PEW CENTER Washington DC

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US commitments under the UNFCCC

Supply and use of energy in the US

COP 6 unnecessary failure at The Hague

How far from Kyoto is the US

Comparing Kyoto Protocol burden


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US commitments under the UNFCCC

• General commitments for all Parties (Art.4.1)

• Common but differentiated responsibilities (Art.3.1)

• Special commitments for industrialized Parties

-adopt policies and take measures to mitigate limiting its anthropogenic emissions of GHG

-developed countries are taking the lead to modify long term trends

-communicate detailed information on such policies and measures

-aiming to return, individually or jointly, to 1990 levels of emission

• Provide financial resources and transfer of technology


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Selected IEA Energy Indicators 1998

TOE/Cap TOE/GDP TOE/GDP/

PPP

CO2/GDP/

PPP

USA 8.11 0.31 0.31 0.77

Canada 7.73 0.35 0.38 0.78

France 4.34 0.19 0.22 0.33

Germany 4.20 0.18 0.23 0.58

Japan 4.03 0.15 0.20 0.44

UK 3.93 0.21 0.22 0.51


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PPP

CO2/GDP/

PPP

USA 8.11 0.31 0.31 0.77

World 1.64 0.37 0.28 0.67

OECD 4.63 0.25 0.26 0.61

China 0.84 1.16 0.24 1.07

India 0.49 0.95 0.32 0.61

Brazil 1.05 0.30 0.19 0.33


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PPP

CO2/GDP/

PPP

USA 8.11 0.31 0.31 0.77

Czech R. 3.99 1.55 0.44 1.11

Hungary 2.50 0.71 0.35 0.80

Poland 2.49 1.23 0.37 1.24

Romania 1.76 1.28 0.61 1.46

Russia 3.96 1.74 0.87 2.13


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PPP

CO2/GDP/

PPP

USA 8.11 0.31 0.31 0.77

Argentin. 1.73 0.27 0.21 0.47

Australia 5.60 0.27 0.29 0.86

Netherl. 4.74 0.21 0.24 0.56


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Electric Energy Consumption 1998kWh per capita (IEA)

Canada 16348.68

USA 13388.11

Australia 9718.89

Japan 8008.33

OECD 7751.12

France 7175.10

Germany 6481.51

U.K 5800.11

Czeck R 5604.47

Russia 4873.11

Netherlands 4596.24

Poland 3206.56

World 2252.30

Romania 2107.85

Argentina 1963.93

Brazil 1850.78

China 871.91

India 415.75


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COP 6 “unnecessary” failure at The Hague

• The Kyoto Protocol is a modest step toward mitigation, it is not the solution to climate change

• The target is 5.2 % reduction below 1990 (Art.3)• According national communications gross

emissions in 1998 were 7.8 % below 1990• Germany –16.1 %, UK -8.9 %• Sweeden + 31.8, Spain + 23.2 %, Austria + 9.7,

Netherlands + 8.4%• US + 21.8%, Canada + 17.1%, Japan + 8.5 %• Eastern European 50.1 %


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How far from Kyoto is the US

• Figures don’t suggest lack of energy in the US• It has been said that coal is needed for electric

generation

• There are other sources of CO2 as transport and cement production and CO2 is not the only GHG

• Methane and N2O were always accounted

• HFC, PFC and SF6 were added to the GHG basket at the US request

• Flexibility mechanisms were also added to KP• Developing countries mitigation action


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Comparing Kyoto Protocol burden

• IPCC’s TAR estimated costs to implement KP don’t include sinks, non CO2 gases or CDM

• With full trading among Annex B, estimated costs are between 0,1 and 1.1% of projected GDP

• According the IMF the burden of developing countries foreign debt services on their GDP in 1998 was Indonesia 9.5 % Malaysia 7.6 %Argentina 6.3 % Brazil 4.7 %India 2.9 % China 2.1


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Selected Energy Indicators for 1996

toe/cap toe/GDP toe/GDP/ppp CO2/GDP/ppp

USA 8.04 0.34 0.34 0.84

Canada 7.88 0.38 0.42 0.83

France 4.35 0.20 0.24 0.36

Germany 4.27 0.19 0.25 0.64

Japan 4.05 0.15 0.20 0.45

U.K. 3.99 0.22 0.23 0.57


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USA 8.04 0.34 0.34 0.84

World 1.68 0.39 0.31 0.73

OECD 4.60 0.26 0.27 0.66

China 0.90 1.57 0.31 0.87

India 0.48 1.10 0.37 0.70

Brazil 1.01 0.29 0.19 0.33


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USA 8.04 0.34 0.34 0.84

Czech Rep. 3.92 1.51 0.43 1.28

Hungary 2.50 0.79 0.39 0.91

Poland 2.81 1.56 0.47 1.59

Romania 2.03 1.26 0.60 1.62

Russia 4.17 1.80 0.90 2.20


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Supply and use of energy in the US

Documents

US commitments under the UNFCCC