Kyoto boosted by Montreal talks

The UN Climate Change Conference in Montreal has been widely praised as a success by ministers and green campaigners, following its conclusion at the weekend. The meeting concluded with agreements to start urgent discussions on a new round of emission reduction targets for the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol which starts in 2013, to review and improve the existing Kyoto strategy, and to adopt a ‘Five Year Plan of Action on Adaptation’ to help the least developed nations tackle climate change.

Follow-up talks will take place in May 2006 to confirm post-2012 targets.

“Today is a very important day in the global effort to tackle climate change. Despite the deep divisions of recent years, the whole global community including the United States, India and China, have agreed to work together through the United Nations process to examine the way forward. The UK and the European Union will do our utmost to ensure that this process is a success,” said UK Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, who led the pro-Kyoto EU delegation. “I think that one reason we have succeeded is because the debate is changing on the costs and benefits of action on climate change. The costs of inaction are great. The benefits of action can be considerable – economic, social and environmental, for present and future generations.“

Environmental groups also welcomed the outcome of the event, applauding the ongoing support demonstrated for the much-maligned Kyoto Protocol.

"How often does one walk into one of these things and come out at the end of it at six in the morning with just about everything you asked for coming in? Not very often," commented Greenpeace climate campaigner Steve Sawyer.

“The Kyoto Protocol is stronger today than it was two weeks ago,” added Bill Hare, Greenpeace International Climate Policy Advisor. “This historic first Meeting of the Parties has acknowledged the urgency of the threat that climate change poses to the world’s poorest people, and eventually, to all of us. The decisions made here have cleared the way for long term action.”