The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European Community for reducing GHG emissions. It was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005 and 184 parties have ratified it to date. Shipping and aviation were not covered by the Kyoto Protocol created by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which fixed either limitations or reductions of GHG emissions from all other sources and proposed a number of measures (eg through Emission Trading Schemes (ETS)) and targets to begin to control the emissions.
It is generally recognised that the Kyoto Protocol of ‘Common But Differentiated Responsibility’ cannot be effectively applied to shipping since the emissions cannot be attributed to a particular national economy. Multilateral collaborative action, under the direction of IMO, will be the best approach for controlling GHG emissions from this particular sector. The IMO operates under the principle of ‘no more favourable treatment’ which ensures that standards adopted for shipping are applied equally throughout the world.
