Question

Why did the U.S. refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and what have been the results of that decision?

Answer 1

The US refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol because at the time when the protocol was unanimously signed by the member states more than half of the electricity in the US was produced by coal. Accepting the treaty means a serious set back for the US economy as they would have to use natural gas for production of electricity.

The treaty put several measures to discourage use of coal i.e. carbon emission in the developed countries.

Because of that decision, the carbon emission and the dependence on the coal for production of electricity has increased considerably and now we are standing at position where if we didn't take any serious measure to reduce the carbon emission and hold the temperature increase below 2* celsius from pre-industrialization era we would be doing unrepairable damage to the planet. Paris accord is the way forward to it but its still to be seen how effective it will be because the US has walked out of that treaty as well.