And we're not bad, but we're not doing as well as we promised under Kyoto and other commitments.
Rich states meet emissions targets by paying poor countries to do the cutting, under Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism.
Europe adopted a cap-and-trade system to cut its emissions under Kyoto only because America was plugging the idea before it pulled out.
It's a virtual printing press for carbon certificates that its backer, Sumitomo, can sell or use to offset its obligations under Kyoto.
Under Kyoto, the United States would cut its greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below their 1990 levels by the years 2008 to 2012.
Meanwhile, the World Bank says there will soon be enough projects under way to meet the expected demand from rich countries under Kyoto.
Under Kyoto, the developed countries committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by varying amounts, which averaged out to a 5.2% reduction below 1990 emission levels.
The refusal of some rich countries to accept a second set of commitments under Kyoto (the current ones run out in 2012) was a big stumbling block in Copenhagen.
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Thus, Canada appears to be the only country in the world that has announced its refusal to respect its commitments under Kyoto, apparently in the belief that its sanctions have no bite.
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Many developing countries have been arguing for a "twin track" approach, whereby countries with existing targets under the Kyoto Protocol (all developed nations except the US) stay under that umbrella, with the US and major developing economies making their carbon pledges under a new protocol.
The level of reduction of emissions from these two examples is comparable with the entire European reductions under the Kyoto Protocol.
By reducing the need for coal-fired power plants, China Longyuan also earns carbon credits under the Kyoto protocol on global warming.
To put that in perspective, all the countries now under mandatory Kyoto cuts account for just 27 percent of global CO2 emissions.
Under the Kyoto protocol of the UN climate convention, all developed countries save America must make binding commitments to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions.
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The new standards will be based only on projects that can be certified, including flexible schemes agreed under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
European rules restricting use of landfills and the carbon-emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol have spurred further innovation and investment in Europe in green technologies.
So far the UK is one of the few developed countries to have published a clear strategy for delivering its 12.5% target under the Kyoto Protocol.
In the developing world it can earn UN-backed carbon credits, which can be sold to governments or firms that must reduce their emissions under the Kyoto protocol.
The level of gas is measured as part of the island's obligation under the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to cut the level of emissions produced around the world.
The scheme under the Kyoto Protocol--the clean development mechanism--lets people get credit for little projects here and there, which change the level of emissions that would have existed otherwise.
Late last year, the EU said its emissions have fallen 17.5% since 1990 and were "on track" to meet its 20% reduction target under the Kyoto agreement by 2020.
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So companies in rich nations meet their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, while money flows to poor countries, which can then buy pollution-control technology at the lowest possible cost.
The 15 nations that made up the EU before it expanded to 27 countries are obliged under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions by 8% between 2008-2012 from 1990 levels.
Its greenhouse-gas emissions have fallen by 15% since 1990 comfortably inside its target under the Kyoto protocol compared with a 2% drop in the EU as a whole and a 14% rise in America.
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Those achievements now include according to an account on Forbes from Energy Report 70 percent of the CO2-emission reductions the U.S. would have committed to under the Kyoto Protocol, had the U.S. ever signed that document.
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The government has explicitly ruled out buying credits in the carbon market from abroad, which is the only way to meet Canada's legally binding commitments under the Kyoto protocol if it fails to meet its targets.
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The question of who gets paid what, and how, feeds back into the main issue in these and inevitable future talks: to what extent will obligations under the Kyoto protocol be extended beyond the developed countries to developing ones?
Regulations restricting use of landfills as well as the carbon emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol have spurred further innovation and investment in Europe, particularly in the U.K., which is one of the most mature markets for renewable energy.
They'll be talking about what needs to be done to ensure that an adequate proposal goes on the table at the next UN climate summit, in Qatar in December, for putting EU emission cuts (and possibly others too) under the Kyoto Protocol.
Whereas this accusation appears to be straining relations that were already stretched, there are signs that the EU is preparing to give ground on one of the major demands of developing countries - that further emissions cuts for rich countries are made under the Kyoto Protocol.
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