Hare, William --- "Australia and Kyoto: In or Out?" [2001] UNSWLawJl 38; (2001) 24(2) UNSW Law Journal 556
[*] Climate Policy Director,
Greenpeace
International.
[1] Michael Grubb, Christiaan Vrolijk and Duncan Brack, The Kyoto Protocol: A Guide and an Assessment (1999) 50.
[2] UNFCCC Secretariat, ‘The Berlin Mandate’ (Decision 1/CP.1) in Report of the Conference of the Parties on its first Session, held at Berlin from 28 March to 7 April 1995: Addendum, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1995/7/Add.1 (1995).
[3] Ibid 5.
[4] Ibid 6.
[5] Opened for signature 4 June 1992, 31 ILM 849 (entered into force 21 March 1994).
[6] UNFCCC Secretariat, Report of the Conference of the Parties on its second session, held at Geneva from 8 to 19 July 1996, Part one: Proceedings, Annex IV, 47, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1996/15 (1996); UNFCCC Secretariat, Report of the Conference of the Parties on its second session, held at Geneva from 8 to 19 July 1996, Part two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its second session, Addendum, Annex: The Geneva Ministerial Declaration, 71, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1996/15/Add.1 (1996).
[7] Paul Brown, ‘US Endorses Cuts in Gas Emissions; Climate change “worse than war” Gummer says’, The Guardian (London, England), 18 July 1996,.
[8] Commonwealth Ombudsman, Report of the investigation into ABARE’s External Funding of Climate Change Economic Modelling (1998) 5.
[9] Ibid 4.
[10] Commonwealth Ombudsman, above n 8 and Commonwealth Ombudsman, Report under section 35A of the Ombudsman Act 1976 (1998).
[11] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Second Assessment Report: Climate Change 1995 (1995).
[12] William Hare and Keith Tarlo, ‘Defending Coal: Global Equity and the Australian MEGABARE Report’ (Paper presented at the Fifth Session of the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate, Geneva, 9-13 December 1996) 1.
[13] Brian Fisher, ‘Equity and the Differentiation of Annex I Commitments’ (Paper presented at the Conference ‘Sharing the Effort: Analysing Options for Differentiating Commitments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change’, London, 6-7 June 1996).
[14] Geoffrey Barker, ‘Howard has it his way’, The Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 22 September 1997,.
[15] Clive Hamilton, Running From the Storm: The Development of Climate Change Policy in Australia (Unpublished, 2001).
[16] William Hare and Malte Meinshausen, Cheating the Kyoto Protocol: Loopholes undermine environmental effectiveness (2000), (also at
at 5 July 2001). This analysis uses the most recent emission inventory available
for Australia: UNFCCC Secretariat, National communications from
Parties included in Annex I to the Convention: greenhouse gas inventory data
from 1990 to 1998 Report
on national greenhouse gas inventory data from 1990 to
1998, UN Doc FCCC/SBI/2000/11 (2000).
[17] Sebastian Oberthür and Hermann Ott, The Kyoto Protocol: International Climate Policy for the 21st Century (1999).
[18] UNFCCC Secretariat, ‘The Buenos Aires Plan of Action’ (Decision 1/CP.4) in Report of the Conference of the Parties on its fourth session, held at Buenos Aires from 2 to 14 November 1998: Addendum, 4, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1998/16/Add.1 (1999).
[19] Oberthür and Ott, above n 17, 294.
[20] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Special Report: Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (2000), (also at <http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/spmpdf/srl-e.pdf> at 28 June 2001).
[21] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ‘IPCC Special Report: Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry – Draft Summary for Policy Makers’ (Paper presented at the 16th Session of the IPCC, Montreal, 1-8 May 2000) 13.
[22] UNFCCC Secretariat, Implementation of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (Decision 1/CP.6) <http://www.unfccc.de/resource/docs/cop6/dec1-cp6.pdf> at 28 June 2001.
[23] Ibid 6: ‘the following activities should be given priority and will have expedited consideration ... renewable energy ... energy efficiency improvements’.
[24] Australian Greenhouse Office, Greenhouse Sinks and the Kyoto Protocol: An Issues Paper (2000), (also at http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/pubs/internationalsinks at 5 July 2001).
[25] Michael Grubb and Farhana Yamin, ‘Climatic collapse at The Hague: What happened, why, and where do we go from here?’ (2001) 77 International Affairs 261.
[26] George W Bush, Text of a Letter from the President to Senators Hagel, Helms, Craig and Roberts, Press Release (13 March 2001)www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html>
at 3 June
2001.
[27] Nick Hordern, ‘Minchin slams ALP greenhouse policy’, The Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 22 March 2001, 8.
[28] John Howard, Letter from Prime Minister John Howard to United States President George W Bush (2001) at 4 July
2001.
[29] Robert Hill, (Speech presented at the Equity and Global Climate Change Conference, Washington DC, 17 April 2001)www.pewclimate.org/events/hill.cfm>
at 3 June 2001
[19].
[30] National Energy Policy Development Group, Reliable, Affordable and Environmentally Sound Energy for America’s Future (2001).
[31] ‘EPA claims US will not block Kyoto negotiations’, ABC News Online (Australia), 18 April 2001, at 17 June
2001.
[32] Under art 25, the Kyoto Protocol will enter into force when ratified by 55 countries, including those that account for 55 per cent of the 1990 industrial carbon dioxide emissions of Annex B countries. As of 9 May 2001, 34 countries have ratified, with one from the Annex B group, Romania, accounting for about one per cent of the required threshold. Ratification by the European Union, Japan, Russia and Central and East European countries would exceed the 55 per cent carbon dioxide threshold and, with the ratification of 33 other developing countries as of 9 May, would exceed the 55-country threshold for entry into force.
[33] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Third Assessment Report: Climate Change 2001 (2001).
[34] Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, ‘Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world coral reefs’ (1999) 50 Marine and Freshwater Research 839.
[35] Australian Academy of Sciences et al, ‘The Science of Climate Change’ (2001) 292(5520) Science 1261.
[36] Newspoll Market Research, ‘Greenhouse Gas’ (Kyoto Protocol Study prepared for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, 6-8 April 2001). Of the remaining 20 per cent, 10 per cent did not know and 10 per cent answered no.
[1] Michael Grubb, Christiaan Vrolijk and Duncan Brack, The Kyoto Protocol: A Guide and an Assessment (1999) 50.
[2] UNFCCC Secretariat, ‘The Berlin Mandate’ (Decision 1/CP.1) in Report of the Conference of the Parties on its first Session, held at Berlin from 28 March to 7 April 1995: Addendum, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1995/7/Add.1 (1995).
[3] Ibid 5.
[4] Ibid 6.
[5] Opened for signature 4 June 1992, 31 ILM 849 (entered into force 21 March 1994).
[6] UNFCCC Secretariat, Report of the Conference of the Parties on its second session, held at Geneva from 8 to 19 July 1996, Part one: Proceedings, Annex IV, 47, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1996/15 (1996); UNFCCC Secretariat, Report of the Conference of the Parties on its second session, held at Geneva from 8 to 19 July 1996, Part two: Action taken by the Conference of the Parties at its second session, Addendum, Annex: The Geneva Ministerial Declaration, 71, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1996/15/Add.1 (1996).
[7] Paul Brown, ‘US Endorses Cuts in Gas Emissions; Climate change “worse than war” Gummer says’, The Guardian (London, England), 18 July 1996,
[8] Commonwealth Ombudsman, Report of the investigation into ABARE’s External Funding of Climate Change Economic Modelling (1998) 5.
[9] Ibid 4.
[10] Commonwealth Ombudsman, above n 8 and Commonwealth Ombudsman, Report under section 35A of the Ombudsman Act 1976 (1998).
[11] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Second Assessment Report: Climate Change 1995 (1995).
[12] William Hare and Keith Tarlo, ‘Defending Coal: Global Equity and the Australian MEGABARE Report’ (Paper presented at the Fifth Session of the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate, Geneva, 9-13 December 1996) 1.
[13] Brian Fisher, ‘Equity and the Differentiation of Annex I Commitments’ (Paper presented at the Conference ‘Sharing the Effort: Analysing Options for Differentiating Commitments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change’, London, 6-7 June 1996).
[14] Geoffrey Barker, ‘Howard has it his way’, The Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 22 September 1997,
[15] Clive Hamilton, Running From the Storm: The Development of Climate Change Policy in Australia (Unpublished, 2001).
[16] William Hare and Malte Meinshausen, Cheating the Kyoto Protocol: Loopholes undermine environmental effectiveness (2000), (also at
[17] Sebastian Oberthür and Hermann Ott, The Kyoto Protocol: International Climate Policy for the 21st Century (1999).
[18] UNFCCC Secretariat, ‘The Buenos Aires Plan of Action’ (Decision 1/CP.4) in Report of the Conference of the Parties on its fourth session, held at Buenos Aires from 2 to 14 November 1998: Addendum, 4, UN Doc FCCC/CP/1998/16/Add.1 (1999).
[19] Oberthür and Ott, above n 17, 294.
[20] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Special Report: Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (2000), (also at <http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/spmpdf/srl-e.pdf> at 28 June 2001).
[21] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ‘IPCC Special Report: Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry – Draft Summary for Policy Makers’ (Paper presented at the 16th Session of the IPCC, Montreal, 1-8 May 2000) 13.
[22] UNFCCC Secretariat, Implementation of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (Decision 1/CP.6) <http://www.unfccc.de/resource/docs/cop6/dec1-cp6.pdf> at 28 June 2001.
[23] Ibid 6: ‘the following activities should be given priority and will have expedited consideration ... renewable energy ... energy efficiency improvements’.
[24] Australian Greenhouse Office, Greenhouse Sinks and the Kyoto Protocol: An Issues Paper (2000), (also at http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/pubs/internationalsinks at 5 July 2001).
[25] Michael Grubb and Farhana Yamin, ‘Climatic collapse at The Hague: What happened, why, and where do we go from here?’ (2001) 77 International Affairs 261.
[26] George W Bush, Text of a Letter from the President to Senators Hagel, Helms, Craig and Roberts, Press Release (13 March 2001)
[27] Nick Hordern, ‘Minchin slams ALP greenhouse policy’, The Australian Financial Review (Sydney), 22 March 2001, 8.
[28] John Howard, Letter from Prime Minister John Howard to United States President George W Bush (2001)
[29] Robert Hill, (Speech presented at the Equity and Global Climate Change Conference, Washington DC, 17 April 2001)
[30] National Energy Policy Development Group, Reliable, Affordable and Environmentally Sound Energy for America’s Future (2001).
[31] ‘EPA claims US will not block Kyoto negotiations’, ABC News Online (Australia), 18 April 2001,
[32] Under art 25, the Kyoto Protocol will enter into force when ratified by 55 countries, including those that account for 55 per cent of the 1990 industrial carbon dioxide emissions of Annex B countries. As of 9 May 2001, 34 countries have ratified, with one from the Annex B group, Romania, accounting for about one per cent of the required threshold. Ratification by the European Union, Japan, Russia and Central and East European countries would exceed the 55 per cent carbon dioxide threshold and, with the ratification of 33 other developing countries as of 9 May, would exceed the 55-country threshold for entry into force.
[33] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC Third Assessment Report: Climate Change 2001 (2001).
[34] Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, ‘Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world coral reefs’ (1999) 50 Marine and Freshwater Research 839.
[35] Australian Academy of Sciences et al, ‘The Science of Climate Change’ (2001) 292(5520) Science 1261.
[36] Newspoll Market Research, ‘Greenhouse Gas’ (Kyoto Protocol Study prepared for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, 6-8 April 2001). Of the remaining 20 per cent, 10 per cent did not know and 10 per cent answered no.