Insurance Journal
UNEP Enacts Kyoto Compliance Rules
March 6, 2006
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2006/03/06/66163.htmThe United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has formally launched a compliance system for the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The system applies to those countries that have signed the Kyoto Protocol, but does not affect the U.S., China, India or other countries that have failed to ratify the pact.
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commented: "Climate change is the most serious challenge facing the world and the Kyoto Protocol is the internationally agreed mechanism for averting it".
The regulatory system contains both an enforcement branch and a facilitative branch. The enforcement wing has the power to decide on the consequences for countries encountering difficulties in meeting their commitments by 2012. The other branch is designed to promote compliance by offering countries advice and assistance.