Kyoto Protocol: India to ratify second commitment period

The government has decided to ratify the "second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol" on containing the emission of green house gases, said Anil Madhav Dave, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, on Monday.

The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2012. So far, 75 countries have ratified the second commitment period.

"The government of India has decided to ratify the Second Commitment Period (2013- 2020) of the Kyoto Protocol. Developing countries like India have no mandatory mitigation obligations or targets under the Kyoto Protocol," Dave informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the 1st commitment period was from 2008-2012. At Doha in 2012, the amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the 2nd commitment period (the Doha Amendment) were successfully adopted for the period 2013-2020.

The minister said that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol enables developed countries to invest in "clean" projects in developing countries to gain emission credits (Certified Emission Reduction-CER).

"Indian industry has benefited from trading in CERs in the international market. Of late, due to lack of demand internationally, prices of CERs have been very low leading to low activities under this mechanism," he said.

Dave said that the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by India will encourage other developing countries also to undertake this exercise.

--IANS

rak/nir/vt