Miscellaneous/Enviromental

Despite U.S. rejection, the world continues working on the Kyoto Protocol


Just before the Conference of Parties (COP) - 6b in 2001 at Bonn, Germany, the U.S. rejected the Kyoto Protocol because of refusals to allow the U.S. to use carbon sinks such as forests, agricultural areas or exports of clean energy technology. COP 6(b) continued international negotiations and identified COP-7 which was held in Morocco in November 2001. At this meeting procedures and institutions needed to make the Kyoto Protocol fully operational were finalized. One-hundred eighty-five states are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which requires a majority vote of 55% for ratification. Only 35 states have provided that ratification.(06-02BD75-11)

Todays Chemist At Work
April 2002, 67-71

 The U.S. Energy Information Agency states that increased energy consumption is largely led by oil and that CO2 emissions may increase by as much as 3.8 billion tons per year by 2020. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that most of the growth for energy will occur in the developing countries of Asia, Central and South America.

Although CO2 emissions are growing rapidly( a projected 62% increase between 1999 and 2020), the carbon intensity - the amount emitted per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) - is projected to improve throughout the world in the next two decades. The most rapid improvements will occur in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Energy use for transportation is projected to increase by 3.8% per year in the developing world, compared with average annual increases of 1.7 percent for industrial countries.(06-02BD75-7)

A full report on the energy outlook is available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/index.html