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Kyoto four years on – no rush.

The Kyoto protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997.   However it only carries the force of a treaty, with all the obligations that implies, when a country ratifies it.  For example in the US, President Clinton’s signing the protocol meant nothing until the Congress and Senate ratified it.  Similarly Tony Blair’s signing means nothing until it has been ratified by Parliament.   We thought you’d like to know how this ratification process is going.  

As we all know it’s going badly in the US.   This is not only because of president Bush, but also because of overwhelming bipartisan opposition in the Congress and Senate.   Even a majority of Democrats oppose the protocol as it stands.  

However, supporters hope that Kyoto can go ahead without the US.   On the face of it progress appears to be quite good, with 43 countries having got around to ratifying it.  Unfortunately these are mostly the poor countries that had no binding commitments under the treaty anyway. 

The 34 countries that actually had to do something are listed in Annexe 1 of the protocol.  They have been a bit slower.     Basically the countries with work to do under Kyoto fall into two groups.  

The group with the most to do are the 30 rich countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  Ratification by this lot is not so good. 

Only one OECD country, Mexico, has ratified so far, and guess what?  Mexico was the only OECD country that managed to avoid being included in annexe 1!  

The second group with work to do include a few recent members of the OECD and some Eastern European states that were classed by Kyoto as being economies in transition.  Although listed in Annexe 1 they were given especially easy targets.   Perhaps they’ve done better. 

Sadly no.  None of them have ratified either.  

So what’s the overall score for Kyoto ratification?   Zero out of 34. 

Next time you hear Tony Blair, or any other West European leader, berating George Bush for the US failure to ratify Kyoto, ask them if their own country has ratified yet.

If you find all the above hard to believe, you can keep an eye on progress with ratification by clicking here.    Although be warned.  This is a UN site that is busy talking up Kyoto.  You have to read the tables quite closely to see that not one single country with obligations under the protocol has ratified it.

Jim Thornton, Leeds. 2 Jan 2002

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Last modified: September 20, 2006