Doha Climate Gateway: Extended Kyoto Protocol

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18) which extended for two weeks in Doha, finally came to an end with the favorable result. 194 countries have agreed to implement the second phase of Kyoto Protocol which is initiating from 2013 to 2020. The Doha round of talks mark the beginning of a transition to a new global climate change regime that will come into effect from 2020 and include within its ambit all countries.

The talks in Doha have agreed that the last 20 years intended to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change were not much of a success. The Kyoto Protocol, the only existing and binding agreement which developed countries commit to cutting greenhouse gases, has been amended so that it will continue as of 1 January 2013. The first commitment period ends on 31 December 2012. The length of the second commitment period will be eight years.

The outcome came 24 hours after the negotiations were supposed to close because of countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus demanding use of the extra credit that had been given to them in the first phase. Doha Climate Gateway, the outcome of these two week long conference is being described as "historic" by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres. She said, "Now, there is much work to do. Doha is another step in the right direction, but we still have a long road ahead. The door to stay below two degrees remains barely open. The science shows it, the data proves it. The UN Climate Change negotiations must now focus on the concrete ways and means to accelerate action and ambition. The world has the money and technology to stay below two degrees. After Doha, it is a matter of scale, speed, determination and sticking to the timetable."

In order to achieve this, countries will hold meetings and workshops next year to prepare the new agreement and to further ways to raise ambition; to submit information, views and proposals on actions, initiatives and options to enhance ambition to the UN Climate Change Secretariat, by 1 March 2013; and that elements of a negotiating text are to be available no later than the end of 2014, so that a draft negotiating text is available before May 2015.