Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Proposals

The purpose of this page is to create an interactive site to consolidate information about proposals generated throughout the world to combat global warming.  In 2009 the member states of the United Nations will be negotiating a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol and many states will be coming to the negotiation table with their own domestic plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

One of the more contentious issues to be ironed out will be mitigation.  The Kyoto Protocol required rich nations to meet mitigation targets by the treaty's expiration in 2012.  Ensuing scientific research has suggested that the mitigation targets for the post-Kyoto agreement must be strengthened dramatically with a focus on both mid-term and long-term targets.

Because the state of play for legislative changes is so vast, and the proposals coming from various quarters are often a confusing amalgam of percentage reductions, base years, target years, etc.., a user-editable wiki can serve as a way to organize the latest information to give people interested in this issue a grasp of the climate policy playing field.  This page has open editing.  All you have to do is register with pbwiki and you may add or correct content.

Many of these mitigation proposals are complex, but I thought the most simple scheme as possible would serve the largest population of users.  Thus, I set up the table below  to organize the most basic information: country or judrisdiction's scheme, their 2020 targe, their 2050 target, how emissions permits will be allocated in cap-and-trade schemes, and any notes that can briefly provide context.   It might also be useful to provide hyperlinks to news stories or actual legislation so we have sources to double-check for accuracy.

I can envision setting up sub pages for each jurisdiction wherein we can provide more detailed information on mitigation schemes than might fit in this front page capsule.  Feel free to email me with any suggestions or criticisms: hugh [at] hughbartling.com