Sinks and the Kyoto Protocol

Abstract

Deliberate land management actions that enhance the uptake of CO 2 or reduce its emissions have the potential to remove a significant amount of CO 2 from the atmosphere over the next three decades. The quantities involved are large enough to satisfy a substantial portion of the Kyoto Protocol commitments for many countries, but are not large enough to stabilise atmospheric concentrations without also implementing major reductions in fossil fuel emissions. ‘Sinks’ can be deployed relatively rapidly at moderate cost and thus could play a useful bridging role while new energy technologies are developed. There is no difference in climatological effect between CO 2 taken up by the land and CO 2 reductions due to other causes. There are potential regulatory differences, related to the security with which the CO 2 is held and to the accuracy with which it can be measured and verified. A variety of policy approaches are available to address these differences.