![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
. | ![]() |
. |
![]()
Brussels (AFP) April 02, 2007 The European Union laid into the United States and Australia, the only two major industrialised countries to reject the Kyoto Protocol, as UN scientists prepared a report likely to issue grim warnings about climate change. European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas pointedly characterised the United States as "number one emitter" of fossil-fuel pollution in the world. "Its own approach doesn't help in reaching international agreement," Dimas said as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting got underway. Dimas upbraided Australia, accusing it of having "a negative attitude on international negotiations" and of rejecting the UN's emissions-cutting pact on the grounds of politics rather than economics. "I can really not understand why Australia has not ratified Kyoto. If you ratify Kyoto it will cost you one third of what it costs you now... it's purely political." Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said at the opening that "unpopular measures are unavoidable" to avoid wrenching damage to Earth's climate system. "It's up to the politicians -- all politicians of all countries -- to take those measures, because you can't let this happen." The 400-member IPCC is to issue a 1,400-page report on Friday on the impacts of climate change, along with a key "summary for policymakers". It will list the shifts that have been seen in Earth's climate system in the past decades as a result of global warming and make predictions about further changes this century. The report is the second in a three-volume update of knowledge about climate change under the IPCC, which gathers top minds in climate science, biodiversity, economics and other fields. The IPCC was set up in 1988 with the task of providing neutral, objective information about global warming and its effects. The Kyoto Protocol is the only international agreement to set a target of reducing carbon pollution -- mainly the byproduct of burning fossil fuels -- that drives global warming. But the treaty has been almost crippled by the absence of the United States, which abandoned the treaty in March 2001 in one of President George W. Bush's first acts in office. Bush said the US commitments under Kyoto, to which his predecessor Bill Clinton had agreed, were too costly for the US economy. He also said the accord was unfair, as only industrialised countries -- and not fast-growing large developing countries such as China and India -- are required to make targeted emissions cuts. Australia has followed the United States in refusing to ratify Kyoto and is similarly pushing for bilateral, regional and technical cooperation for tackling climate change. Kyoto's supporters have long suspected that this approach aims at weakening support for the treaty, whose renegotiation is coming up.
Source: Agence France-Presse Email This Article
Related Links ![]() The world's top climate scientists gathered here Monday to hammer out the summary of a massive report that predicts dire consequences from global warming, especially for poor nations and species diversity. |
![]() |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |