The "Dirty Secret" Behind Kyoto

Fortune published an article by Cait Murphy on the "Dirty Secret" behind Kyoto - that, surprise surprise, most countries that have ratified it are failing to meet their reduction targets. Murphy's premise is that countries have had to choose between cutting GHG and economic growth, and have chosen the latter, which puts them on par with the U.S. I don't need to harp on this false premise in this forum.

I was surprised to read that Canada, which has agreed to cut emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels, is a whopping 24 percent over 1990 levels. The U.S., by comparison is 15.8 percent over.

To me, this article highlights the major weakness in Kyoto, the fact that developing countries, in particular China and India, are exempted. The fact that China, for example, can build dirty coal plants (a gigawatt plant every 7-10 days) to provide cheap power to its manufacturers, poses an enormous barrier to Western countries that want to make GHG cuts but at the same time protect their industries. The architects of the next climate treaty will have to find some way to get developing nations on board, likely through greater incentives.