The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) announced that a Compliance Committee for the Kyoto Protocol, the environmental treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, has begun operations, with an enforcement branch dealing with countries having difficulties meeting their commitments.
On the day when the crucial ratification for the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005 has arrived, the first project of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been registered. The project will reduce emissions of methane from a landfill in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
An appropriate legal framework is essential to accomplishment of clean energy solutions. This paper discusses legislative and regulatory measures that have contributed to successes in achieving clean energy improvements and concomitant reductions in releases of carbon dioxide contributing to global warming.