October 2005
PM Pessimistic On Climate Treaty
The Kyoto protocol on climate change cannot work in its current form, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.
Most of the developed world, except the USA, has signed up to the agreement which aims to provide a legal framework under which industrialised countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to 1990 levels by 2012. The UK has pledged to go further than this, stating its commitment for a 20% cut by 2010.
But Mr Blair, writing in the Observer newspaper, said cuts in greenhouse gas emissions can only be achieved by establishing an initiative that includes the USA. However the USA recently signed the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate agreement along with Australia, the People's Republic of China, India, Japan and South Korea. The pact allows those countries to set their goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions individually, but with no enforcement mechanism. Supporters of the pact see it as complementing the Kyoto Protocol whilst being more flexible whilst critics have said the pact will be ineffective without any enforcement measures.
His comments come ahead of a conference on climate change in London on Tuesday, chaired by Mr Blair.
Any new agreement after the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012 would not be able to work either if, as with Kyoto, the USA is not part of it, Mr Blair said. He blamed the problems surrounding the climate change debate as the "trouble with so much international politics: a reluctance to face up to reality and the practical action needed to tackle problems".
Mr Blair argued that the problem of global warming cannot be dealt with unless any new agreement includes India and China, exempted from the current protocol because they are classed as developing countries. China is now the worlds second largest emitter of greenhouse gases (after the USA), with emissions increased by 40% since 1990.
President Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto treaty when 141 countries signed up to it this year because he said it would be too costly to the American economy, and the fact that the fast-growing developing countries were not part of it.
The G8 industrialised nations will meet China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa in London this week to deal with the global climate change threat and look to moving forward with the successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
If you or your company are looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and require advice on how best to achieve this, contact Nersi Salehi on 024 7632 3260.
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