E.U. not to toe U.S. line on Kyoto pact

LONDON, APRIL 5. The European Commission President, Mr. Romano Prodi, said today the European Union intended to go ahead with the Kyoto agreement against global warming - with or without the United States.

The U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, said last week that the accord, which calls for targeted cuts of carbon dioxide emissions to reduce the risk of disastrous global warming, was not in the U.S. interest. His announcement prompted a storm of protest from Europe to the Pacific. Mr. Prodi said in an article in Britain's Independent newspaper that the 1997 accord was the only option available to save the planet from the effects of global warming. ``I say it's the best we have and we are committed to seeing it in force by 2002,'' he said.

The Kyoto accord calls on industrial countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions by on average 5.2 per cent below the 1990 levels by 2012. The U.S. is the world's biggest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, the Greenhouse gas which many scientists say is the main culprit behind global warming. Mr. Prodi said an E.U. delegation, which had just held talks in Washington, would travel to Russia, Japan and China, other major producers of Greenhouse gases.

The E.U. team would also hold talks in Iran, which chairs the developing countries' delegation to climate talks. ``The message they will carry is this: we in the E.U. do not see a solution to the climate problem outside the Kyoto Protocol,'' he said. ``The European Union remains committed to it - with or without the United States.''

Mr. Prodi dismissed American arguments for withdrawing from the pact, saying: ``If the Bush administration finds the U.S. targets too ambitious, that is not an argument for discarding the whole agreement. Referring to American objections that polluters such as China and India were excluded from the agreement, he said: ``Some claim Kyoto `isn't fair' because it excludes developing countries. But surely, we in the industrialised world, who have contributed most to causing this problem, should be first to contribute to its solution. Is there any `fairness' in the fact that U.S. emissions are 10 times more per person than those in the developing world?''.

Scientists believe Greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels, trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming which can lead to disastrous weather changes.

For the Kyoto pact to become legally binding, it must be ratified - approved by Parliaments - by 55 signatory countries, including enough to make up 55 per cent of developed countries' 1990 carbon dioxide emissions.

- Reuters

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Curbs on movement of items into Vanni lifted
Next     : 'Singlish' to make way for English