Introduction

The Kyoto Protocol compliance mechanism was designed to strengthen the protocol’s environmental integrity, ensure transparency of accounting by parties, and support the global carbon market’s credibility. Its objective is to ensure an effective implementation and enforcement of the protocol in accordance with international law, under the auspices of the Compliance Committee. Even if the current climate regime does not explicitly refer to measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) it does in fact contain important related requirements which provides parties with an implementing framework and, where appropriate, the necessary information to trigger the compliance mechanism.

In this context, MRV and compliance are different and should not be confused. MRV can help identify non-compliant situations through a technical procedure, whereas the compliance mechanism provides for a set of legal (and quasi-judicial) procedures to determine and address cases of non-compliance, through facilitative and enforcement measures, including punitive consequences. Both processes have proved to be complementary in ensuring an effective international climate regime.