The world 'can take heart' from the Montreal Climate Change Conference.

• Author: Kinley, Richard
• Position: SystemWatch

The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2005, held in Montreal, Canada, from 28 November to the early hours of 10 December, was one of the largest of its kind, with 9,500 people attending, including the UN Deputy Secretary-General and the Canadian Prime Minister, as well as a record participation from Governments and environmental and business non-governmental organizations. The Conference was also historic, since it served as the first-ever meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force on 16 February 2005. Under this treaty, more than 30 industrialized countries are bound by specific and legally binding emission reduction targets.

The results of the Conference go beyond what was widely expected. A series of decisions defining the institutional details of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, making the treaty fully operational, and its compliance committee was established, with its members elected. With the adoption of the Protocol's rulebook, the so-called "Marrakesh Accords", the three Kyoto mechanisms were formally approved. The first two are on emissions trading and joint implementation, which are both limited to developed-country parties, while the third--the clean development mechanism (CDM)--is a unique instrument that combines support to sustainable development in developing countries through private investment and technology transfer with enhancing cost-effectiveness of required emission reductions by industrialized countries.

Another area in which major progress was achieved was the adoption of a five-year work programme to develop the technical basis for increasing the resilience to the potential impacts of climate change. Special adaptation funding arrangements to assist developing countries were also advanced. A significant outcome was the opening of a two-track approach to discussions to determine the future directions of global action on climate change: one involving the 157 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol; the other, all 189 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The global carbon markets created by the Kyoto Protocol came out strengthened from the Montreal Conference. The decision to open negotiations on commitments beyond 2012 provided a signal to the markets, giving them a longer-term perspective that encourages investments with paybacks. The United States, which remains outside the Protocol, has maintained throughout the years that the time is not right to...