The growth of Industries made life easier. The world was made a perfect place to live after the industrial revolution of 19th Century-life became easier. However, man barely imagined that, 150 years later, the praised industrial activity would pose trouble to his environment. The effort to reverse the effect of industrial greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) has raised political debates worldwide for more that a decade. This battle against GHG aims at basically decreasing the ability of the atmosphere to trap the sun’s energy as it attempts to exit past our ozone layer, a situation that goes by the name ‘global warming’. Global warming is the reason why; icebergs in Iceland have melted into waterfalls, the Sahara desert is advancing further South to green Nigeria and why the world is warmer today that it was two decades ago. One of the most promising universal measures in movement against the global warming is the Kyoto protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC). It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and enforced on 16 February 2005. 187 states of the world have signed and ratified the protocol. This implies a record universal effort against a common threat. Of the 187 countries, 37 which are the heavily industrialized countries (called the ‘Annex I countries’) are bound to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent from levels recorded in 1990. The rest of the countries will cooperate with Annex I and the drop be achieved in a five year period, being 2008 to 2012. Developing countries like South Africa, Brazil, India and Mexico have also cut fossil fuel subsidies significantly by 45 percent. These countries are also promoting renewable energy that comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind and geothermal heat, which to replace fossil energy. Turning to renewable energy is in line with the protocol’s accords. Although the Kyoto protocol plays a big role in reversing global warming, its effects may not turn out as expected. This is because, unlike other common pollutants, GHG’s like carbon can never be avoided because they are central to power generation (and modernizations). Also some developed countries like USA are have declined to sign the protocol. Ends
