The Federal Government has announced it is set to join the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

 

The Protocol was the first set of binding global agreements by countries to cut emissions, with Australia signing up to the first version of the Protocol in 2007.

 

The Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period ends on 31 December this year and a second commitment period to restrain greenhouse gas emissions is to begin on 1 January 2013.

 

Joining a second commitment period will ensure Australian businesses have access to international credits under the Clean Development Mechanism, helping Australia reduce emissions at the lowest cost to the economy.

 

All countries that are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are working towards a new global agreement that will have legally binding commitments for all major emitters.

 

Australia's preparedness to join a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol at the UN climate change negotiations in Doha, Qatar (26 November to 7 December) will be conditional on:

  • Continued progress in international negotiations towards the new 2015 agreement. This will require serious commitments from all countries, developed and developing alike.
  • The second commitment period ending in 2020 in line with the start of the new agreement.
  • Access to the Kyoto market mechanisms, including the Clean Development Mechanism, from 1 January 2013.
  • The existing land sector rules continuing, providing opportunities to cut emissions through better land management, including under the Carbon Farming Initiative.
  • The rules applying to carryover of units from the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol being appropriate for Australia.

 

In Doha, Australia will commit to limiting its greenhouse gas emissions from 2013 to 2020 with a Kyoto target consistent with the bipartisan target of reducing emissions to five per cent below 2000 levels by 2020.