CIAO DATE: 12/2008
July 2008
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Although the Kyoto Protocol has not been effective at reducing emissions, it has been very effective at demonstrating a few important lessons about the form future international climate agreements should take. As negotiations begin in earnest on a successor agreement to take effect in 2012, it is important to learn from experience with the Kyoto Protocol in order to avoid making the same mistakes over again and to design a more durable post-2012 international agreement. This paper presents the lesson learnt from the Kyoto Protocol and proposes a way forward for the post- Kyoto negotiations. It also offers some empirical results for the global consequences of a cap and trade emissions markets, a global carbon tax and the McKibbin Wilcoxen Hybrid emissions market approach.
Resource link: Building on Kyoto: towards a realistic global climate agreement [PDF] - 489K