248 A strategyfor action to slowand stabiliseclimate change
afforestation, reforestation and deforestation activities and certain kinds
of land-use change. Capping arrangements were also set up that limit
the extent to which removals of carbon dioxide from these activities are
allowed to offset emissions elsewhere.^1The Kyoto mechanisms
The Kyoto Protocol includes three special mechanisms to assist in emis-
sions reductions.
Joint implementation (JI)allows industrialised countries to implement
projects that reduce emissions or increase removals by sinks in the ter-
ritories of other industrialised countries. Emissions reduction units gen-
erated by such projects can then be used by investing Annex I countries
to help meet their emission targets. Examples of JI projects could be the
replacement of a coal-fired power plant with a more efficientcombined
heat and power plant or the reforestation of an area of land. JI projects are
expected to be mainly in EIT (economies in transition) countries where
there is more scope for cutting emissions at low cost.
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)allows industrialised
countries to implement projects that reduce emissions in developing
countries. The certified emission reductions generated can be used by
industrialised countries to help meet their emission targets, while the
projects also help developing countries to achieve sustainable develop-
ment and contribute to the objective of the Convention. Examples of
CDM projects could be a rural electrification project using solar panels
or the reforestation of degraded land.
Emissions Tradingallows industrialised countries to purchase ‘assigned
amount units’ of emissions from other industrialised countries that find it
easier, relatively speaking, to meet their emissions targets. This enables
countries to utilise lower cost opportunities to curb emissions or increase
removals, irrespective of where those opportunities exist, in order to
reduce the overall cost of mitigating climate change.
The detailed regulations concerningthe implementation of these mech-
anisms state that projects will only be approved if they lead to real,
measurable and long-term benefits related to the mitigation of climate
change and that they are additional to any that would have occurred
without the project.Before the Marrakesh meeting in 2001 the United States had an-
nounced its withdrawal from the Protocol. Despite this by the end of
2003 120 countries had ratified the Protocol and the Annex I countries
that had ratified represented 44% of Annex I country emissions. For the