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P. R. Shukla Indian Institute of Management AhmedabadLow Carbon City GuidebookLow Carbon City:
A Guidebook for City Planners and Practitioners
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro formally placed managing climate change on the global
agenda. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was agreed upon
by countries in May 1992 and entered into force in March 1994. The ultimate objective of the convention
(UNFCCC, 1992) was to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would
prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, while ensuring that economic
development continues to proceed in a sustainable manner.
The subsequent Kyoto Protocol (KP), adopted in December 1997, cemented climate negotiations with a
commitment by industrialised countries to reduce average annual CO
2
emissions between 2008 to 2012
by nearly 5% from the 1990 levels. The protocol entered into force in February 2005, though without
the participation of some key nations. Nevertheless, the KP prompted countries to make advances
towards mitigating their GHG emissions. Three notable areas spurred by the KP have been low carbon
technology innovations, the emergence of climate finance, including the emissions trading market,
and widespread participation of nations in emissions mitigation using the flexibility mechanisms under
the Kyoto Protocol. The aggregate global emissions, however, continued to grow due to incomplete
participation, insufficiency of the negotiated target, and rapid growth of emissions in major developing
economies.
In recent years, the UNFCCC negotiating text has referred to aiming at a 2°C stabilisation target and
exploration, as possible, for achieving a 1.5°C stabilisation target. The 2°C stabilisation target signifies
the stabilisation of GHG emissions concentration at a level that would stabilise, in the long-run, the
temperature rise to below 2 degrees centigrade over and above the pre-industrial period average global
temperature. This target translates to stabilising the CO
2
e concentration at 450 ppmv in the long-run. The
recently concluded 18th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Doha reaffirmed the 2°C target and
the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol mechanisms till 2020.
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