In Sensible climate policy Professor Warwick McKibbin criticises the Kyoto Protocol that had just entered into force in February 2005. He predicts that the policy would not succeed in reducing emissions and argued that it was a mistake to continue to follow the ‘targets and timetables’ approach of the Kyoto Protocol where countries attempt to negotiate a legally binding international agreement. He also proposes the alternative approach of national actions based around an international framework for assessing emission reduction policy. Critically, it is the latter approach which has now emerged from the Copenhagen Accord in 2010 and further in Durbin in 2011.

‘The sad irony about the entering into force of the Kyoto Protocol is that it will likely achieve very little in the quest to address the problem of climate change. For a number of reasons outlined below the Kyoto Protocol is so badly constructed that it has set back the search for sensible and effective policy responses by at least a decade.’