Open letter to Environment Council to tackle gigantic Kyoto unit surplus

The letter warns that a surplus of over 13 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent in Kyoto emission units (AAUs) threatens the environmental integrity of future climate deals. It calls on EU ministers to support the G-77 proposal to contain these surpluses and urges the Council to act by qualified majority at the October 25, 2012 meeting to ensure the EU's commitment to meaningful emission cuts.

• The surplus of Kyoto emission units (AAUs) from the first commitment period is estimated to exceed 13 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent, which is over a thousand times the expected demand. This surplus is projected to increase to nearly 17 billion tonnes during the second commitment period due to insufficient reduction commitments by Parties.
• Within the EU, the total AAU surplus from the first commitment period is estimated to be more than 4 billion tonnes.
• The second Kyoto commitment period is expected to be severely oversupplied, which will likely result in AAU prices dropping to nearly €0 per tonne, stripping the surplus of financial value.
• The unrestricted carry-over of AAUs is viewed as a threat to future climate agreements, as it undermines the EU's ability to persuade developing countries to make meaningful emission cuts.
• The signatory organisations request that EU ministers support the G-77 proposal, specifically the cancellation of the first commitment period surplus at the end of the second period and the elimination of any second period surplus. They further urge countries to pledge not to use AAUs for compliance in the second period or acquire Joint Implementation credits from countries not participating in the second commitment period.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2012). Open letter to Environment Council to tackle gigantic Kyoto unit surplus. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-environment-council-to-tackle-gigantic-kyoto-unit-surplus/

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Open letter to Environment Council to tackle gigantic Kyoto unit surplus. 2012. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-environment-council-to-tackle-gigantic-kyoto-unit-surplus/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Open letter to Environment Council to tackle gigantic Kyoto unit surplus |date=4 October 2012 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-environment-council-to-tackle-gigantic-kyoto-unit-surplus/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2012open, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Open letter to Environment Council to tackle gigantic Kyoto unit surplus}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2012}, month = oct, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/open-letter-to-environment-council-to-tackle-gigantic-kyoto-unit-surplus/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }