Carbon rush at World Bank

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized country signatories to reduce their emissions by 5.2% below 1990 levels during the 2008-12 commitment period. However, the scientific community has determined that, to avoid dangerous climate change, greenhouse gas emissions reductions of over 60% below 1990 levels were necessary by 2000, rendering the commitments made at Kyoto insufficient. Moreover, some of the largest emitters – the United States and Australia – are not even participating in the protocol. And the Kyoto agreement is weakened further by the fact that virtually all of the emission reductions required of industrialized nations can be achieved by trading carbon credits between nations, thus avoiding real reductions.