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Key Message

A new international climate regime will need to foster substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while also balancing the need for continued economic development by all countries, significant energy development in developing countries, and adaptation to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

After Kyoto

What will happen after 2012?

What's New in After Kyoto?

  • A Way Forward: Canadian Perspectives on Post-2012 Climate Policy (PDF - 2 mb)
    Published in May 2008
    This report assesses the four pillars of a post-2012 climate regime—mitigation, adaptation, technology, and financing and investment—from a Canadian perspective. These issues form the basis of the Bali Action Plan and have emerged as critical components to post-Bali discussions. The analysis aims to help set the groundwork for discussions in Canada and internationally, examining how these key areas may be incorporated in a post-2012 agreement, in light of Canadian interests and perspectives.

  • International Climate Change Policy Scenarios (PDF - 384 kb)
    Produced in February 2008
    This paper lays out five broad policy scenarios on addressing climate change in the post-2012 world. The scenarios are representations of possible policy architectures that could be discussed in international negotiations, and they look at how the various approaches might unfold, with a particular emphasis on what that might mean for Canada. The qualitative analysis of these scenarios includes the criteria of environmental integrity, economic and competitiveness aspects, incentives for financing, political feasibility and Canadian interests.

In 2012, the commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will come to an end. The international climate community is currently working on finding its replacement—a new regime that will determine the future basis upon which global cooperation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change impacts will take place. While formal negotiations are taking place under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, numerous parallel initiatives lead by national governments and research institutes are shaping the nature of this discussion.

Determining the future of the climate regime is a complex process influenced by the need to balance the diverse interests and national circumstances of developed and developing countries, enable continued economic development in all countries, and promote significant energy development in developing nations. Progress is critical, if the global community is to achieve the substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to avoid significant, adverse climate change. It is time that we take meeting this challenge out of the hands of environment ministries and put it into the hands of those who truly make the critical development decisions, including finance ministries and central planners.

IISD is providing assistance in informing and facilitating the emergence of a post-2012 climate regime and the integration of climate change considerations across policy spheres. These efforts are undertaken in collaboration with international partners, the federal government of Canada, Canadian provincial governments, individual companies and other national and international research institutes.

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