December 3, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 8, 1424

MOSCOW/BRUSSELS, Dec 2: Russia dealt a new blow to a U.N. plan to curb global warming on Tuesday as even European Union supporters of the landmark pact admitted backsliding.

A senior Russian official said that Moscow, left with an effective veto over the entire Kyoto Protocol after the United States pulled out in 2001, could not accept the 1997 plan in its current form.

“The Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia,” Andrei Illarionov, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin on economic issues, told reporters in Moscow.

“Of course, in its current form, this protocol cannot be ratified,” he said. He did not spell out what changes might bring a “Yes” from the Russian parliament.

The United Nations, hosting 180-nation climate talks in Milan from Dec 1 to 12 to work out details of Kyoto, said that one official’s views did not amount to a formal rejection by Moscow. Mr Illarionov is a leading Kyoto sceptic in Russia.

Environmentalists dismissed the remarks as bluster before Sunday’s elections to the Russian Duma, which formally has the final say over Kyoto in Russia.

“While Illarionov’s opinion will sound like music to the ears of the U.S. administration, it’s far too early to be reading the funeral notice of the Kyoto Protocol,” Greenpeace’s Stephen Guilbeault said.

Russia holds the key because Kyoto can only enter into force if it is ratified by nations accounting for 55 per cent of developed countries’ emissions of carbon dioxide.

Kyoto has so far reached 44 per cent, making Russia’s 17 per cent a casting vote after the United States, the world’s number one polluter, pulled out its 36 percent stake.

EU SLIPS: In what could be a more serious setback, the EU Commission said that only Sweden and Britain of the EU’s 15 member states were on track to meet the EU’s Kyoto goals.

Kyoto aims to curb emissions of gases like carbon dioxide spewed from power plants and cars that are blamed for blanketing the planet and driving up global temperatures. The EU has agreed to cut emissions by eight percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.

In the EU rankings, Spain was bottom of the class with Denmark, Austria, Belgium and Ireland also lagging badly.

EU nations have been among the leading proponents of Kyoto along with Japan, blaming human-induced global warming for triggering more frequent catastrophes like heat waves, floods or tornadoes and for melting ice that could raise sea levels.

“Unless more is done, the EU as a whole and the majority of its member states will miss their Kyoto targets,” Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said. “This is serious. Time is running out.”

She said she had written to member states to urge them to take new measures. Kyoto aims to promote a shift to renewable energies like wind, solar or hydrogen power while encouraging closure of fossil-fuel smokestacks.

Under Kyoto countries would be able to buy or sell the right to pollute depending on whether their emissions were higher or lower than envisaged.

Many economists argue Moscow stands to gain from Kyoto because Russia’s Soviet-era industries have collapsed, leaving it with spare emissions quotas that could be worth billions of dollars.

In Milan, officials brushed aside Illarionov’s scepticism.

“This is a senior adviser to the president, it is not a formal rejection like we saw with America,” said Michael Williams, a U.N. climate talks spokesman. “We remain optimistic that...Russia will ratify.”

Two months ago, Mr Putin backed away from Moscow’s previous promises to ratify soon. And he said that a warmer climate might benefit Russian farming and could help people save money on warm fur coats in winter.—Reuters