Word: kyoto
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...Last month Bush announced that he was abandoning the Kyoto Protocol, having concluded that the international agreement could hurt the American economy, particularly during a burgeoning energy crisis. Governments around the world condemned the President's stance as uninformed and even reckless, noting with outrage that the U.S. is home to 4% of the world's population but produces 25% of its greenhouse gases...
...many governments are not willing to wait. Last week, members of a European Union delegation, which had been stonewalled by the Bush Administration in Washington, toured Russia, Iran, China and Japan to drum up support for the Kyoto agreement. The E.U. is keen to press ahead with Kyoto even without the U.S., but the Japanese, whose Washington delegation was as large as the E.U.'s, seem willing to wait at least until the Administration announces an alternative plan. "U.S. participation is very important," said Japanese Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. The Japanese also agree with the U.S. on several important issues...
...joint letter published last week in the Swedish daily Göteborgs-Posten, European Commission President Romano Prodi and Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson indicated a willingness to renegotiate parts of the Kyoto deal to meet U.S. objections. "It would be a tragic mistake to tear up the agreement and start over from scratch," they wrote. "We would lose time, and that would make us all losers." They also stressed that the E.U. would ratify the protocol with or without the participation of the U.S. The E.U.'s strategy - and those of the U.S. and Japan - may become...
...storm Kyoto has caused, its original provisions seem modest: a 5% reduction in emissions below 1990 levels for most industrialized nations, with the U.S. - as the world's worst CO2 offender - receiving an incrementally tougher 7% cut. Developing countries that signed the treaty would get a pass for a while...
...cuts the protocol requires are deeper than they seem. The Kyoto terms were drafted four years ago, but they would not go into effect until 2008. The CO2-reduction goals would not have to be met until 2012. U.S. greenhouse emissions are projected to grow more than 20% by then, which means that getting 7% below 1990 levels could actually require a 30% cut in output. Even then, the difference may not be enough to have any real impact. British Prime Minister Tony Blair believes that in order to put the brakes on warming a reduction...