Russian MPs ratify Kyoto treaty: US remains unmoved
MOSCOW, Oct 22: Russia's lower house of parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol on Friday, clearing the way for the long-delayed climate change pact to come into force worldwide.
But the United States said it had no plans to follow Russia's lead and sign the protocol. "We have no intention of signing or ratifying it. We have not changed our views," said deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli in Washington.
The U.N. accord aimed at battling global warming is already backed by 126 countries, but it needed Russia's support to make it internationally binding after the United States, the world's biggest polluter, pulled out in 2001.
"We'll toast the Duma with vodka tonight," Green peace climate policy adviser Steve Sawyer said. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol obliges rich nations to cut overall emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 by curbing use of coal, oil and natural gas and shifting to cleaner energies like solar or wind power.
"The entry into force of Kyoto is the biggest step forward in environmental politics and law we have ever seen," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the WWF conservation group's climate change programme.
To come into force, the pact needed to be ratified by countries accounting for at least 55 percent of developed nations' greenhouse gas emissions. Russia, which accounts for 17 percent, became the key to Kyoto after the US pullout.
Washington said the pact was too costly and unfairly exempted large rapidly industrialising countries such as China and India. But EU Commission President Romano Prodi said Russia's backing would put additional pressure on the United States to reconsider its position.
"The Kyoto Protocol may not be perfect but it is the only effective tool that is available to the international community," he said in a statement. "The United States should not abstain from the one fight that is crucial for the future of mankind."
Russia's Duma passed the Kyoto bill by 334 votes in favour, with 73 against and two abstentions. The upper house will consider Kyoto on Oct. 27, Interfax news agency said. After that it will go to President Vladimir Putin who will have up to two weeks to sign it. These steps are seen as formalities after Friday's vote in the Duma, which is controlled by pro-Kremlin parties.
EXTREME WEATHER: Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said the decision would help concentrate global efforts on meeting Kyoto's targets.
But he added that "the goal of stabilising the climate and securing the stability of the planet is however a long way off". Rising global temperatures have been linked to extreme weather including droughts, flooding and higher sea levels, which some see as possible sparks for regional conflicts. But critics of Kyoto say the pact will cost trillions of dollars and have scant impact unless countries like China get involved. -Reuters
