What are current international regulations regarding sustainability?
Sustainability Regulations
Sustainability laws are wide and various due both to the nations involved and the concept of sustainability. The main international governing group accepted by a majority of nations is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The focus of this Convention is that of Climate change and more specifically on greenhouse gas reductions. The most famous aspect of the UNFCC is the Kyoto Protocol. There are numerous international organizations that deal with international sustainability issues. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) focuses on sustainable fishing of Atlantic Ocean tuna. The Asian Development Bank focuses on eliminating poverty in Asian countries. The International Coffee Organization deals with sustainable coffee production and consumption worldwide. Each organizational group has varying degrees of effectiveness due to the underlying fact that each member nation has the potential to ignore regulations established by the international governing body.
The Kyoto protocol was signed in 1997 and became part of the UNFCC regulations. The Kyoto protocol was not ratified by all members of the UNFCC, particularly the United States which accounts for 20% of global CO2 emissions. It was only in 2004 when Russia ratified the Kyoto protocol, meaning a majority of convention members ratified, did the treaty come into force.
Each nation also has differing degrees of regulations regarding sustainability laws. The European Union has enacted laws with goals of decreasing emissions of 18-29% from 2005 levels in 2020. In Japan similar laws were enacted with goals of 30% from 2005 levels in 2020. An argument presented by Fiona Harvey is summed up in her Financial Times article, “Meetings are global but action is local.” She cites the example of California and its automobile emissions laws. California enacted stricter emission laws than the US government established and had to receive a waiver in order not to have the California laws voided by the government regulations.
The main conclusion is that there is no unifying acceptance of regulations. Each nation establishes their own criteria and degree of enforcement regarding the plethora of issues about sustainability. When there is an international organization established there is the issue of non-compliance due to national interests.