Manitoba Climate Change Task Force - International Institute for ...

Households will find that they can reduce their contribution to climate change
and save money in the long run by improving household energy efficiency,
reducing automobile use and purchasing more energy-efficient appliances.
However, many families will need appropriate up-front incentives and assistance
to cope with the effects of climate change. More vulnerable populations, such as
young children, the elderly and those with respiratory diseases will need greater
access to information and services.
What are We Doing About It?
The International Framework
In the past decade, as the science of climate change has become increasingly reliable
and impacts have begun to be noticed in certain areas of the world, international
action on climate change has intensified. Approximately 180 countries, including
Canada, have signed the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change. This treaty sets the principles and framework for a global response to
climate change, including agreement on the need for preventative, precautionary
action to slow climate change by limiting greenhouse gases emissions released by
human activities. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the convention sets legally binding
targets for each industrialized country to reduce its emissions. Canada’s goal is
to reduce our emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels between the years 2008
to 2012.
In July 2001, representatives from various nations, with the notable exception
of the United States, reached a broad political agreement in Bonn, Germany, on
the operational rulebook for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The “Bonn Agreement”
is expected to pave the way for the Kyoto Protocol to be ratified. While many of
the legal details of the agreement are still under negotiation, Canada and other
countries now have a much clearer idea of the various ways they can meet their
emissions targets.
Emissions Trading
Emissions trading is a key
flexibility mechanism of the
Kyoto Protocol, which allows
developed countries to transfer
emissions credits to each other.
Developed countries that reduce
emissions more than is required
by their national target will be
able to sell their excess credits to
countries that find it more
difficult or expensive to reduce
their own emissions. Thus,
emissions trading will reduce
the overall cost of meeting the
targets. Private corporations
rather than government
agencies will carry out much of
the trading. Trading is already
underway in Canada, the United
States and other countries
around the world.
International Institute for
Sustainable Development
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