Synopsis
The Kyoto Protocol capped the emissions of the main emitters, the industrialized countries, one by one. It also created an innovative financial mechanism, the Carbon Market and its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows developing nations to receive carbon credits when they reduce their emissions below their baselines. The carbon market, an economic system that created a price for carbon for the first time, is now used in four continents, is promoted by the World Bank, and is recommended even by leading oil and gas companies. However, one critical problem for the future of the Kyoto Protocol is the continuing impasse between the rich and the poor nations. Who should reduce emissions — the rich or the poor countries?
About the Author
Graciela Chichilnisky has worked extensively on the Kyoto Protocol, creating and designing the carbon market that became international law in 2005. The Washington Post calls her an "A-List Star" and Time Magazine calls her a "Hero of the Environment" and was elected one of the Ten Most Influential Latinos in the US. US Congressman, Jay Inslee wrote that her work is "revolutionary for the international community". A world-renowned economist, she is the creator of the formal theory of Sustainable Development and acted as Lead US Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the Nobel Prize in 2007. Her pioneering work uses innovative market mechanisms to create Green Capitalism. She acts as a special adviser to several UN organizations and heads of state. Dr Chichilnisky is CEO and Co-Founder of Global Thermostat, (www.globalthermostat.com), a company that created "Carbon Negative Technology"™ capturing CO₂ from air and transforms it into profitable assets such as biofuels, food, beverages, and enhanced oil recovery. Fast Company magazine selected Global Thermostat, as the "World's Top Ten Most Innovative Company" in Energy. Dr Chichilnisky was awarded the 2015 "CEO of the Year" by IAIR at Yale University Club in NYC. Additionally, Dr Chichilnisky is a Professor of Economics and Mathematical Statistics and a University Senator at Columbia University, and Director of the Columbia Consortium for Risk Management (www.columbiariskmanagement.net). Dr Chichilnisky is also a Visiting Professor at Stanford University. She is the author of 15 books and some 320 scientific articles in preeminent academic journals. Her two most recent books are The Economics of Climate Change and Saving Kyoto. Dr Chichilnisky holds two PhD degrees, in Mathematics and Economics from MIT and UC Berkeley respectively. She is a frequent political and economic speaker on CNN, ABC, BBC TV News, and Bloomberg News, as well as a frequent keynote speaker at leading international conferences and universities. Peter Bal is a businessman and ecological restoration practitioner. Born in the US in 1960 and educated across Europe and Asia, Bal uses the multilingual and creative mind to bridge cultural differences in international transactions. His experience includes selling the Empire State Building, producing alcohol from grapes, and restoring a devastated forest in France. Bal sees CO₂ as an asset to be mined. He has chosen to dedicate natural plant absorption as well as industrial solutions to retrieve CO₂ from the atmosphere. He is currently working on a containerised CO₂ absorbing unit with Global Thermostat, and also participating with John D Liu in setting up ecological research and training centers.
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