| The agreement was hailed as
a "triumph" by the UK, which chairs both the
Group of Seven leading economies and the
European Union. Critics of the United
Nations-brokered Kyoto protocol on climate
change have called for its demise since it was
signed in 1997. But at the weekend the Kyoto
process - which requires developed countries to
cut their emissions of greenhouse gases relative
to 1990 levels by 2012 - gained a new lease of
life. "Kyoto is alive and kicking," said Stavros
Dimas, European commissioner for the
environment.
A decision to begin discussions may seem
inconsequential, but US intransigence in recent
years has been such that even the continuation
of discussions on the future of the Kyoto
protocol - which President George W. Bush and
the US Senate rejected on grounds it would hurt
the economy - seemed unlikely.
Critics also point out that the protocol will
make little practical difference to greenhouse
gas levels: as developing countries have no
obligations to cut their emissions, and as
emissions from the US have been rising, the
treaty will result in only a1 per cent cut by
the time its current provisions expire in 2012.
But much more is at stake. The parent treaty
to the Kyoto protocol, the UN framework
convention on climate change, is the only
binding treaty on climate change that
encompasses the globe.
The US has fought hard against the acceptance
of the protocol, while several developing
countries have also tried to halt it. If they
had succeeded, the world would have seen the
collapse of global action on climate change
within a framework in which progress on cutting
greenhouse gases could be measured. With
governments not held accountable for meeting
emissions reduction targets, there would have
been little prospect of rebuilding such a
process within at least a decade.
China, the world's second biggest producer of
greenhouse gases, will play a key role in the
future of climate change talks. Chinese
officials indicated they strongly supported the
Kyoto process, despite attempts from the US to
divert Beijing's focus to its proposed
alternative, the Asia-Pacific Partnership on
Clean Development, announced this summer.
The US had hinted it might be prepared to cut
a deal from the start of the ministerial talks
last Wednesday. Until this summer, Washington
argued that to talk about the future of
co-operation on climate change under the UN
would be "premature".
But Paula Dobriansky, the US under-secretary
of state for global affairs, signalled a
significant change of direction that could lead
to a deal. She said the US would refuse to sign
up to "formalised discussions" that were geared
towards "a one size fits all approach".
The proposed discussions were expressly
framed to sustain a variety of approaches,
without resorting to formal negotiations; a
series of minor amendments to this effect
allowed the US to sign up.
Some environmentalists fear the US may yet
use its place at the table to block or stall
future progress.
Although this is possible, Richard Kinley,
acting head of the UN's Climate Change
Secretariat, described the meeting as "one of
the most productive UN climate change
conferences ever".
It also produced reforms to the mechanism by
which developed countries fund projects that
lower emissions in poor nations, agreed on a
compliance regime for the Kyoto protocol and
started a process for countries to set future
emission reduction targets.
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2005. To subscribe
or visit go to:
http://news.ft.com/ |
