Kyoto Target

Taking this into account I look forward to a productive NATO Summer School with new motivation to shift to energy conservation techniques of the new millennium in meeting Kyoto Targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to combat climate change. 

Figure 3. Scenario (2) with 100% of electricity generated by nuclear and renewables compared to base case (1) and Kyoto target.

Zervos A., Developing wind energy to meet the Kyoto targets in the European Union, Wind Energ, 6(3), 309-319,2003. 

Korner, C. (2003). Slow in, Rapid out—Carbon flux studies and Kyoto targets. Science. 300, 1242-1243. 

Nevertheless, the devolution of allocation responsibilities does cause significant problems. The most notable area is with respect to new-entrant rules, where free allocation forms a subsidy to new investments. This raises the prospect of a race to the bottom as Member States compete to attract investment - though such subsidies are usually at a macroeconomic cost, in this case exacerbated by the need to then cut back emissions more elsewhere in the economy (or to buy international credits) to comply with Kyoto targets. 

They can significantly contribute to the Kyoto targets and EC White Paper ... 

In many ways, the most interesting Member State NAPs were those from the ten accession countries, which, with the exception of Slovenia, have no problem meeting their Kyoto targets. How to handle hot air became a complicating issue in deciding the total cap, but many of the problems and solutions found elsewhere show up in the three examples described here Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. 

Annex in lists eleven criteria to be respected or taken into account in the allocation plan. Some of the criteria have a mandatory character (e.g. the need for consistency with a Member State s Kyoto target and the obligation to include a list of covered installations with allocated amounts per installation), while others are of an optional nature (e.g. accommodation of early action). The common character of the criteria is that they are of a principled and general rather than operational nature. This means that Member States have considerable freedom to implement the criteria, while the Commission has no clear guidance for the assessment of plans. 

Fixing the national cap and deciding on the path to the Kyoto target... 

A lowering of the total cap was required in more than half of the plans. In total the assessment resulted in some 290 million allowances fewer than intended in the initially notified plans to be allocated in the first trading period. The Commission justified the necessity to lower caps mainly with the inconsistency of the proposed path to a Member State s Kyoto target - a violation of criterion 1 in Annex III of the... 

Directive - and with the intended allocation above projected needs of the covered installations - a violation of criterion 2. Several plans were found to be on an inconsistent path to the Kyoto target because of insufficient substantiation of the intended purchase of Kyoto mechanism units with public funds. In assessing the first batch of plans the Commission developed a catalogue of criteria16 to evaluate the substantiation of intended purchase of Kyoto mechanism units which was applied to all plans that relied on this component. A number of plans, predominantly from Member States that joined the EU in May 2004, were found to propose a total cap above projected needs. The Commission relied in its assessments mainly on projections of total greenhouse gas emissions that Member States produce and report on a regular basis to the Commission and the Secretariat to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

Current projections suggest that the UK will meet its Kyoto target with existing policy measures, but the government has indicated that additional measures may be necessary if it is to meet its more ambitious national targets for CO2 emissions. Figure 3.2 shows the maximum allowable future emissions for consistency with both the UK s domestic CO2 target and its international Kyoto commitments. 

CO2 emissions by 2010 of 16.3% below 1990 levels - that is, between its Kyoto target of 12.5% and the more ambitious national target of 20%. 

Table 4.1 Greenhouse gas emission trends (Mt (. (he), the Kyoto target and different projections in the context of Germany... 

The cap for 2005-2007 should be orientated to approximately regular annual intervals to reach the Kyoto target of 21%. With unfailing consistency, the analyses and discussions kept the targets for the 2008-2012 Kyoto period in view, along with the emissions reduction targets for the 2005-2007 period. 

The Kyoto target should be especially geared to domestic action rather than to the emissions credits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) or the use of International Emissions Trading (IET) within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol. 

The proportional approach was discussed as a further alternative, according to which the fulfilment of the remaining gap to the Kyoto target should be proportionally distributed across all sectors. 

In addition to the important technical factors described above, two additional elements introduced significant uncertainty in the development and pursuit through the NAP of a clear path to achieving the Kyoto target on the one hand, before Russia s ratification in February 2005, the uncertainties associated with the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol, while on the other the time-frame for the transposition into Italian law of the EU ETS Directive. 

The macro decision followed a one-step bottom-up approach and led to an allocation apparently consistent with the path to achieving the Kyoto targets. However, the method resulted in a potentially generous allocation, which could only be justified by the need for both a smooth transition and the minimisation of impacts on power prices. 

The absence of a Kyoto problem was also the basis for a simple idea that the allocation should be strictly based on the Kyoto target as mentioned in the Commission guidance, i.e. the allocation was expected to include some of the Kyoto surplus. This idea was supported by arguments that the drop in emissions, which had benefited the country in meeting its Kyoto target, was a burden to industry, and that an allocation of this surplus would represent an excellent payback option. While this argument has some merit, it is neither correct nor in... 

The Ministry of Industry and Trade initially asked the fifty biggest emitters to present their allowance requirements. When the sum of these needs came in at almost 150 million allowances annually, well over the Kyoto target, this approach proved not to be the right way forward. Companies seemed not to distinguish between as needed and as wanted . 

The guidance document, however, was used only to a certain extent. As described above, the key issue in the development of the Czech allocation plan was setting the total number of allowances in a situation where the country was below its quantitative Kyoto target. The result was that some of the Directive s criteria were not applied at all, while the consistency of the relation between allocation and projections and state aid rules, which was considered most important, was not discussed in sufficient detail in the document and was a partial source of misunderstanding. The question is whether a more clear interpretation would have helped to avoid these discussions on a domestic level, or if at least it would have helped the argumentation of those who were responsible for the preparation of the allocation plan. 

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