EU, U.S. at loggerheads over global warming
November 20, 2000
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The European Union and United States
are at loggerheads over how to reduce greenhouse gases, as key
international leaders join a U.N. summit on global warming.
The climate conference at The Hague is seeking to set down rules
and procedures for the implementation of emissions cuts laid out
three years ago in the Kyoto Protocol.
After a week of preliminary talks, key politicians are now
bargaining over the toughest aspects of curbing emissions that
are changing the Earth's climate.
But the EU maintains the U.S. is seeking to avoid making any cuts
in its greenhouse gas emissions, claiming it is looking for "free
gifts" to get out of politically difficult policies in the
energy, transport, industry and agriculture sectors.
Some 2,000 lower-level officials spent last week preparing the
ground for negotiations among environment ministers or
cabinet-rank officers from at least 150 countries, but they
failed to resolve differences over how best to protect the
planet.
EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said keeping the
U.S. on board was critical. "It would be absurd if the biggest
emitter of greenhouse gases would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol,"
she said on Monday.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol calls for the reduction of emissions of
carbon dioxide -- primarily from fossil fuels -- and other
heat-trapping gases by an average 5.2 percent from their 1990
levels.
The main burden falls on the industrialised countries. Europe
must cut emissions by eight percent, the U.S. by seven percent
and Japan by six percent. The target date is 2012.
Petroleum fuelled economies
The U.S. has been criticised for what environmentalists and some
governments say is an effort to wriggle out of its commitments.
The U.S. Senate already has passed a resolution making its
ratification conditional on assurances that U.S. competitiveness
on world markets will not be harmed.
Members of the U.S. Congress have said they will block any
climate agreement that could threaten economic prosperity and
which did not include ways of ensuring developing countries
are included in emissions reduction.
The U.S. delegation supports a variety of trading mechanisms that
would enable countries to meet their requirements in part by
buying or earning "credits" from countries that exceed their
reduction quotas.
Senator Larry Craig, a Republican from Idaho, said: "What we want
is a way that makes it work without penalising the economies of
the world and our economy."
Conference chairman Jan Pronk said he wants an agreement that
will be both "environmentally credible" and politically
acceptable to budget-conscious governments.
Pronk said last week's preliminary talks brought some progress
but no conclusion on any of the key issues. Most nations at the
talks want each country to meet its target by moving away from
petroleum-fuelled economies and by imposing greater efficiency.
Craig and Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, were
sent to observe the negotiations, which are being conducted for
the U.S. by State Department officials led by Undersecretary of
State Frank Loy.
U.S. officials said that they felt the Europeans had not
reciprocated what they called their efforts to find common ground
and show flexibility.
If the conference ends in agreement, any treaty enforcing a new
global emissions behaviour would have to be ratified by most of
the industrial countries. Without a U.S. endorsement, it would be
difficult for such a treaty to come into force.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a board of 2,000
leading scientists, projects average temperatures may increase by
up to 10.8 degrees over the next century, raising sea levels
enough to sink low-lying islands, change weather patterns and
kill some animal species.
On Saturday, thousands of activists from around the world erected
a sandbag dyke around the Dutch conference venue to symbolize the
threat of global warming.
Article by Associated Press & Reuters
SOURCE: CNN
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