Cuba works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

The Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA) announced a Temporary Working Group for the insertion of Cuba into the carbon market with a view to stabilizing and decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In practice, the initiative paves the way for the preparation of related legislation, technical standards and regulations to get the island engaged in the said market, promote the reduction of GHG emissions, and contribute to the fulfillment of the Nationally Determined Contribution pursuant to the achievement of a sustainable socioeconomic development.

Since November 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, 37 industrialized countries and the European Union have committed themselves to reducing GHG emissions by at least 5% between 2008 and 2012, based on 1990 levels.

To this end, they devised “carbon credits”, a.k.a. Certified Emission Reduction―similar to others traded on the markets, but with their own regulations and mechanisms at regional, national or international level―to encourage rather than impose steps to stabilize and reduce GHG emissions.