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4.6.1. "Since 1990"
Article 3.3 allows credit only for ARD activities undertaken since 1990; Article
3.4 allows credit only for activities during the first commitment period. Aside
from limiting credits to newly undertaken activities, these requirements have
two obvious consequences: They withhold credits from Parties that behaved in
the desired way (regardless of motivation) prior to 1990, and they complicate
the accounting system by requiring differentiation of activities by date of
initiation. If the Protocol were to adopt more comprehensive accounting of carbon
in the biosphere, relaxing the "since 1990" requirement for Article 3.4 activities
in commitment periods after the first would make accounting simpler. If the
intent is to give credits only for a short list of narrowly defined activities
that can be identified in time and space, however, retaining the "since 1990"
requirement could work toward this objective. Article 3.4 stipulates, in its
last sentence, that if the additional activities are used to meet commitments
during the first commitment period (a choice offered to each Party), the "since
1990" requirement will apply; it does not impose this requirement on subsequent
commitment periods, however. The options are to either relax this MRG or impose
another initiation date. Obviously, the later the initiation date, the fewer
the projects that will qualify and the more likely that qualifying projects
(or the national scale of an activity) were undertaken for purposes that include
gaining GHG emissions credits. The earlier the initiation date before 1990 (unless
no initiation date is set), the more difficult it will be to retrospectively
gather baseline data, if needed. For instance, remote-sensing data on land cover
are not available from before the mid-1970s.
4.6.2. "Measured as.changes in carbon stocks in each
commitment period"
There are two possible approaches for measuring CO2 emissions by sources and
removal by sinks in the biosphere. In most instances, the IPCC Guidelines and
other conventions estimate the actual exchange of a gas between the system of
interest and the atmosphere. This approach is used, for example, to measure
emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and CH4 from landfills. The Kyoto
Protocol has chosen in Article 3.3 to use the other approach: measuring net
emissions as the change in carbon stocks in the various reservoirs (see Brown
et al., 1996; Apps et al., 1997; Sections 2.3.2.3
and 4.3.3). Having made this land-based choice for Article
3.3 activities, the accounting system may become more complex if an activity-based
approach is chosen for Article 3.4 activities. This approach may be needed in
the case of some activities for which distinguishing whether products (e.g.,
forest products) originate from Article 3.3 or 3.4 activities could be difficult
once the products are in industrial trade channels. A stock-based approach does
not work for non-CO2 GHGs; these emissions must be treated by activity-based
methods.
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