London and Bali (Platts)--3Dec2007
Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd became the country's 26th prime
minister Monday and immediately began dismantling the former government's
policies by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Rudd had pledged to commit Australia to the landmark United Nations
treaty on greenhouse gas emissions as his first priority.
"Today I have signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto
Protocol," he said in a statement after his official swearing in at Government
House in Canberra.
"This is the first official act of the new Australian government,
demonstrating my government's commitment to tackling climate change."
Rudd, who ousted conservative John Howard in elections nine days ago on a
platform that included reversing the previous government's policy and
ratifying Kyoto, had taken the oath of office just hours earlier.
Ratification will come into force 90 days after the commitment is handed
to the UN, he said, meaning Australia will become a full member of the Kyoto
Protocol before the end of March 2008.
Rudd said Kyoto was considered to be "the most far-reaching agreement on
environment and sustainable development ever adopted."
"Australia's official declaration today that we will become a member of
the Kyoto Protocol is a significant step forward in our country's efforts to
fight climate change domestically--and with the international community," he
said.
Rudd said his government would do "everything in its power" to help
Australia meet its Kyoto obligations--which are set at capping greenhouse
gas emissions at 108% of 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
Official projections point to Australia just breaching this limit,
estimating GHG output at 109% of 1990 levels by 2012.
The announcement of Australia's ratification prompted sustained and
emotional applause at the opening session of the UNFCCC's climate change
conference in Bali Monday.
The talks aim to produce a "roadmap" for negotiating a new pact on
tackling global warming to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
Speaking at the Bali talks, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said:
"I think that it was an emotional and spontaneous reaction to a very
significant political decision on the part of the Australian government to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol."
Environmental groups highlighted the fact that Canberra's action now
leaves the United States isolated as the only major industrial country not to
have ratified the Protocol.
But Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists told journalists in
Bali that the outlook for more committed US involvement in climate change
talks "is on the way."
He noted that all Democratic presidential candidates as well as two
Republican candidates have outlined proposals for tough emissions regulations,
and pointed to the three regional cap-and-trade efforts currently under way as
proof that the US is moving steadily closer to taking on a firm commitment as
part of a post-2012 agreement.
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