What does the future hold for Kyoto?
So what is the future for the Kyoto Protocol, and for the fight against climate change? The success of the Protocol will evidently depend to a large extent on the political will of the countries that have ratified it, which in turn is a function of domestic pressures and competing interests in each country. The limitations of the Protocol do not necessarily portend the failure of global efforts to combat climate change. Murray Ward, a New Zealand climate change consultant, argues that the Protocol was never intended to represent the final solution, but rather a ‘necessary first step.’ He regards the major contribution of Kyoto as the establishment of the global carbon market, which will be ‘a primary means to mobilise investment in energy efficiency and renewable and cleaner technology’.[10] Thus, the primary benefit of the Protocol may be the establishment of mechanisms with which further global solutions to climate change can be sought. Continued debate is valuable in that it motivat
