Kyoto Protocol

Half way through the UN climate talks here in Bali and we can now see the shape of the deal that will cause next week's most fevered discussion.

Swingeing cuts to greenhouse gases are very much on the table, with rich countries expected to act first and fastest.

During his hectic blogging schedule last week, David Steven somehow found time to post an in depth analysis of some of the recent criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol.

He ended his analysis with a review of the ‘time to ditch Kyoto' argument of Gwyn Prins and Steve Rayner, particularly their central big idea of putting ‘public investment in energy R&D on a wartime footing'.

David's conclusion was that

[quote]Now spending that sort of money may well be a reasonable response. It should even buy some compelling new technologies (though how wisely governments would invest it is a moot point).

The Kyoto Protocol, whose future or obituary is under construction in Bali, set the first framework for a global carbon market with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in 1997 (although it did not actually come into operation until the Protocol came into force in 2005). Critics of the CDM are not hard to find, but the substance of their objections varies enormously. They range from NGOs like the International Rivers Network which says it opens the door to huge scams, to multi-million dollar companies which want to make CDM work but say it has been hobbled and risks losing credibility altogether.