E.U. nations ratify pact to reduce global warming

The Washington Post

UNITED NATIONS — The 15 members of the European Union Friday jointly ratified a treaty designed to reduce levels of greenhouse gases that cause global warming, raising the likelihood that the pact will become law before the end of the year despite U.S. opposition.

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, still requires ratification by some other major industrialized countries, including Russia, Canada and Japan, before it can come into existence.

But United Nations diplomats expressed confidence that Japan would ratify the treaty as early as next week and that Russia would follow suit after the treaty is debated in the Russian parliament around the end of summer.

The environmental accord has been the source of enormous political tension between the United States, the world’s largest polluter, and many of its closest allies, particularly in Europe.

European officials attending the ratification ceremony at U.N. headquarters cited a growing body of scientific evidence that demonstrates man-made industrial emissions are warming the Earth’s atmospheric temperature at an alarming rate, raising the prospect of potentially catastrophic environmental consequences.

President Bush has acknowledged there are risks posed by global warming, but said the mandatory cuts required under the Kyoto treaty would result in billions of dollars in economic losses and drive 5 million Americans out of work. He also objects to the exemptions for many large, developing nations — including China and India — from mandatory cuts in industrial emissions.

In February, Bush proposed a plan that relies on more than $4.5 billion in incentives and tax credits to encourage voluntary reductions in emissions by utilities and businesses.

The Kyoto accord was signed by the Clinton administration in 1997 but never ratified by the Senate. It requires that all industrialized countries — with the exception of the United States — reduce their emission of greenhouse gases from 1990 levels by 5 percent by 2012. The United States, which produced 36.1 percent of the industrialized world’s emissions in 1990, would have been mandated to slash its emissions by 7 percent.

The Bush administration rejected the treaty last year and is under no legal obligation to lower emissions.

The accord cannot go into force until it has been ratified by at least 55 countries responsible for producing more than 55 percent of the developed world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Friday’s action by the 15 EU members brings the total number that have ratified the treaty to 69 countries, accounting for 26.6 percent of the developed world’s emissions.

Russia and Japan, whose parliament Friday approved legislation permitting the government to ratify the treaty, account for 25.9 percent. Several other nations, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 13 countries seeking membership in the European Union, are also expected to ratify.

Australia, the world’s largest coal exporter, has refused to ratify the treaty unless the United States takes part. And many Canadian leaders and businessmen are opposed to formally approving the treaty without U.S. involvement for fear of giving the United States an upper hand in their trade relations.

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