With the objective to regulate and limit environmentaly damaging emissions and the resulting global warming, the United Nations initiated a Framework Convention on Climate Change which lead to an international agreement called the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. 184 Parties (countries) of the Convention have ratified its Protocol to date. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh in 2001, and are called the “Marrakesh Accords”.
The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.
Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” Deciding which countries should be included on the list of “developed nations” became central to the Protocol. (See below regarding South Africa’s possible inclusion on this list)
Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Kyoto Protocol offers them an additional means of meeting their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.
The Kyoto mechanisms are interesting in that they include opportunities such as “Emissions” or “carbon trading”, traded on the “carbon market” through which companies in developed countries could trade their “carbon deficits” for “carbon credits” in developing countries. Details of these mechanisms could be viewed at http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
The Protocol could also be downloaded in PDF format here
Climate change and all its associated effects are going to have an effect on South African businesses. It is expected that Government will commit to a carbon emission reduction programme at a global meeting of nations in Copenhagen, scheduled for December. The summit, which is expected to be more widely accepted than its predecessor, the Kyoto protocol, will lead to the implementation of new laws that will have an effect on South African businesses.
There is at present little doubt that an agreement will be reached. The only uncertainty is the shape or form the global agreement and the resulting legislation will take. The consequence is that South African companies are at present in the uncomfortable position of choosing whether to hold off making changes until the new legislation is implemented and play catch-up with those who have; or to start predicting the likely changes which are going to have to be implemented. In addition to this, international markets are becoming more environmentally conscious, affecting the expansion efforts of South African companies with large carbon footprints.
Cement and brick production are considered amongst the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. If, as is expected, South Africa will have to subsribe to greenhouse gas emissions, the construction industry will be affected in the same way as other industries. Alternative construction technology and the guidelines of SANS-204 may become fast tracked into legislation and required for approval of all new construction in South Africa.
It would therefore be prudent for the South African home construction industry to start adopting alternative technologies and in doing so also catch up with the leading countries of the world.