Publication - 3 December, 2009
Why the Copenhagen Treaty should keep the current five-year commitment periods.
Executive summary: The Kyoto Protocol is based on commitment periods instead of single target years. The first five-year commitment period runs from 2008-12. In the lead-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, countries are negotiating the second commitment period, which starts in 2013 and should run until 2017.
However, some countries are now discussing the idea of extending the length of those commitment periods suggesting, for example, one commitment period from 2013-2020. While no real rationale for an extension is being offered, there are a number of very strong reasons why the commitment periods should be kept the same.
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Number of pages: 2