Carbon emissions, Kyoto
and T&T
By Energy Correspondent
Trinidad Express
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
06 24 07
Each
day Trinidad and Tobago releases an estimated 90,000
metric tonnes of poisonous gases into
the atmosphere. Trinidad and Tobago is ranked
# 8 in the world on carbon emissions per capita.
In 2004, T&T released a total of 33 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
These are just some of the "startling" statistics
that were quoted recently as T&T hosted two
international conferences which in part addressed
the issue of climate change. It is these statistics
that have led some to the misinformed conclusion
that T&T is a major contributor to global
warming and climate change. The facts are however,
that despite our relatively high level of emissions
T&T is not considered as one of those countries
that should share responsibility for reducing
emissions of global greenhouse gas (GHG) which
are responsible for global warming and climate
change.
Global warming refers to the rise in temperature
observed in the earth's atmosphere because certain
gases -Green House Gases - trap some of the sun's
energy within the atmosphere. The principal green
house gases arising out of human activity are carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The burning
of fossil fuels and forests are generally regarded
as the foremost source of GHG emissions. Scientific
evidence shows that the global temperature increased
by about .5 per cent Celsius over the last 100
years with the bulk of the change in occurring
over the last 20. Scientist forecast that if this
trend continues global warming and the ensuing
climate change impacts could be severe.
The Kyoto protocol was an agreement which sought
to address the problem of climate change induced
by human activity. The protocol was adopted in
December 11, 1997 and came into force on February
16, 2005, when Russia's ratification. The agreement
was only ratified (became legally binding) in 2005
because of a provision which specified that at
least 55 countries must ratify it and that these
parties' emissions must also make up 55 per cent
of the global production of greenhouse gases.
The
agreement developed countries to reduce their
CHG emissions by at least five per cent from the
1990 baseline. Countries can achieve their Kyoto
targets by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in
their own country, implementing projects to reduce
emissions in other countries and by "trading
in carbon". Trading in carbon simply means
that countries that have achieved their emissions
targets can sell their excess carbon allowances
to countries which find it more expensive or difficult
to meet their targets. The phenomenon of Carbon
Trading was the subject of an international conference
held in Trinidad last week.
The
agreement sought to establish differentiated
responsibilities in accordance with the stage
of
development of the countries and levels of emissions.
As such the countries were separated into two groups.
Annex 1 parties, which represented 41 developed
countries and economies in transition and the Non-Annex
countries which comprised mostly developing countries.
Developing countries (such as T&T) do not have
to share responsibility in the reducing GHG emissions
since they are not thought to be major contributors
to the problem.
The tables below show the rank of total carbon
emitters by country and the rank of per capita
carbon emissions by country as at 2004. The United
States has ranked first in total carbon emissions
and emitted about 22 per cent of global carbon
emissions in 2004. The USA emitted 16 per cent
more GHG in 2005 than it did in 1990. It is also
interesting to note that the country ranked second,
China, is not legally obligated to reduce emissions
under the agreement.
Table 2, shows per capita carbon emissions. Interestingly
six of the top ten have small populations and are
engaged heavily in the crude oil refining and or
gas based petrochemical industries.
Table 1: World Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the
Flaring and Consumption of Fossil Fuels as at
2004
Source: US Energy Information Administration
Table 2: World per Capita Carbon Emissions from
the Consumption and Flaring of Fossil Fuels as
at 2004
Source: US Energy Information Administration
The USA and Australia have refused to ratify the
agreement and have argued that irreparable damage
will be done to their respective economies if
they do. This does not bode well for the initiative
since the USA has the largest total carbon emissions
and Australia has one of the highest emissions
per capita rates among Annex 1 countries. Both
also have argued that the Protocol is flawed
in its classification of China, the world's second
largest GHG offender, as a Non-Annex 1 countries.
Although
T&T is not legally obligated to reduce
emissions under the current agreement, we cannot
absolve ourselves of all responsibility to the
environment. One way in which we can help and also
gain benefits is by attracting carbon emission
reducing projects from Annex 1 countries.
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Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, June 13th 2007
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