Max Paris checks the pulse of the climate change treaty as the first stage of "binding cuts" came to an end on Monday:
The [lapse of the] controversial and ineffective Kyoto Protocol's first stage … leav[es] the world with 58 per cent more greenhouse gases than in 1990, as opposed to the five per cent reduction its signatories sought. From the beginning, the treaty that was adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, was problematic. Opponents denied the science of climate change and claimed the treaty was a socialist plot. Environmentalists decried the lack of ambition in Kyoto and warned of dire consequences for future generations. … Some countries have signed on to a second round of Kyoto commitments beginning Jan. 1, 2013, and stretching through to 2020, but they only represent 15 per cent of current world emissions.
Canada, Russia and Japan have all dropped out of Kyoto's next round of emissions commitments, while the US never signed the treaty.
The Dish 