“We cannot put ambition (in climate action) in cold storage for the next four years and keep discussing actions only in the post-2020 scenarios under the Paris Agreement. We must enhance the pre-2020 action as well, and for that developed countries must agree to a quick and time bound ratification of the Doha amendments. Let us have a target of April 2017 for doing that. When we are talking of initiating actions under the Paris Agreement, there is no reason why we should continue to delay actions under the Kyoto Protocol,” said Prasad.
Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1997 and came into existence in 2005. It assigned emission reduction targets for a group of rich and industrialised countries, first for a period between 2005 and 2012, and then, through the Doha amendments, between the period 2012 to 2020. The Paris Agreement seeks actions from all countries and not just from the rich and industrialised group as the Kyoto Protocol did.
The United States never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and remained outside of it. Many other countries failed to reach their assigned targets and some, like Japan, Australia and Canada, walked out of it after the first commitment period that ended in 2012. These countries are still to ratify the Doha amendments for their targets in the second commitment period.
