Effects of Kyoto Commitments on Emissions and Carbon Footprints

A stricter climate policy in one part of the world can lead to the transfer of comparative advantages and thus to a shift in the production of particularly CO2-intensive goods to countries with laxer climate policies. The analysis of a databank with the footprints of 40 countries shows that countries which have signed up to the Kyoto commitments have reduced their emissions by 7%. However, this has no impact on their carbon footprint. The total quantity of emissions creased by consumption in Kyoto countries did not decrease compared to the CO2 consumption in non-Kyoto countries. This means that emissions were transferred abroad and shows that a unilateral climate policy in a globalized world is not effective. An effective climate policy presupposes that all countries commit to a global climate agreement.