ABSTRACT

At the Group of Eight (G8) Summit of 2009, the powerful industrialized countries that attended the summit declared that the global mean temperature must not exceed 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, a decision made in recognition of the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, maintaining temperature rises within 2 °C of pre-industrial levels is quite a stringent target, considering the prospect of future emissions increases from developing countries. Practical strategies to keep temperature change below this limit remain in the planning stage. However, the mere fact that a target has been agreed upon amounts to progress. During negotiations on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, the international community failed to reach any such agreement. The Kyoto Protocol, which was initially adopted in 1997, obliged industrialized countries to reduce their total emissions of six GHGs by at least 5 percent for the 2008-2012 period relative to emissions levels in 1990. However, the Kyoto Protocol did not establish mandated targets for GHG emissions reductions for developing countries, despite the predictions that future emissions from developing countries would be larger than those from industrialized countries. This contradiction later led to a severe altercation between the industrialized countries and developing countries over their respective obligations with respect to GHG emissions reductions. For example, at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Copenhagen in 2009, industrialized countries demanded that legally binding targets for GHG emissions reductions be imposed on developing countries, resulting in a fierce confrontation between the two groups. Furthermore, although industrialized countries largely had agreed on the direction of the GHG emissions reduction policy since 1990, differences of opinion became apparent at COP-15. In short, practical policies on climate change mitigation have not been fully established, particularly because of tensions between industrialized and developing countries.