The Oil Depletion Protocol was proposed by Dr. Colin Campbell, petroleum geologist and founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO), in 1996. It is an international agreement that will enable nations of the world to cooperatively reduce their dependence on oil. By agreeing to reduce oil imports and exports, signatory nations and cities will help mitigate the negative consequences of an over reliance on cheap energy and help prepare for a global decline in the world’s oil supply. The idea of the Protocol is inherently straightforward: oil importing nations would agree to reduce their imports by an agreed-upon yearly percentage (the World Oil Depletion Rate), while producing countries would agree to reduce their rate of exports by their national Depletion Rate.

The Book

In 2005, notable peak oil author and college professor Richard Heinberg read Colin Campbell’s proposal and saw the Protocol’s potential. He immediately began working on a book that has recently been completed, and will be published in June 2006. This book will be a key publicity component of the Protocol.

The Project

Richard Heinberg prompted Post Carbon Institute to help facilitate the adoption of the Protocol by initiating the Oil Depletion Protocol Project, which provides organizational support, expertise and research capacity. Our main objective for 2006 is to lay the groundwork for the successful international adoption of the Protocol. We will do this by researching the best practices of existing international protocols, building strong partnerships and coalitions with other interested organizations, securing a high profile international spokesperson for the Protocol, developing educational and promotional materials, and developing the organizational capacity to manage the Protocol’s implementation.

 
It is envisioned that it will take up to five years to develop a critical mass of support around the world for the Protocol to be fully adopted and, hence, for it to become an effective means of change. In 2007, we will launch the project both in the US and internationally.

For more information, visit the Protocol's official website www.oildepletionprotocol.org