Kyoto Protocol Enters Into Force TODAY!

[Blane]

A big day around the office today...

TOKYO - Two centuries after the dawn of the industrial age, the world on Wednesday took its first concerted step to roll back the emission of "greenhouse gases" believed linked to climate change with the enactment of the Kyoto global warming pact.

AP Photo

The agreement, negotiated in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto in 1997 and ratified by 140 nations, calls on 35 industrialized countries to rein in the release of carbon dioxide and five other gases from the burning of oil and coal and other processes.

Its impact, however, will be limited by the absence of the United States, the world's leader in greenhouse gas emissions.

Proponents say the stakes are high: the gases are believed to trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing to rising global temperatures that are melting glaciers, raising ocean levels and threatening dramatic and potentially damaging climate change in the future.

"The tools for keeping climate change under control, such as renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures, are developed and ready to use," said Greenpeace International official Stephanie Tunmore. "There is now a price on climate pollution and penalties for polluters. The switch to a carbon economy begins here."

Implementation of the agreement was delayed by a struggle to meet the requirement that countries accounting for 55 percent of the world's emissions ratify it. That goal was reached last year — nearly seven years after the pact had been negotiated — with Russia's approval.

The Clinton administration signed the protocol in 1997, but the U.S. Senate refused to ratify it, citing potential damage to the U.S. economy and insisting that it also cover countries with fast-growing economies such as China and India.

"We have been calling on the United States to join. But the country that is the world's biggest emitter has not joined yet, and that is regrettable," Japan's top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, told reporters.

In Japan, the host to the 1997 conference and a tireless supporter of the pact, the enactment was being met with a mixture of pride and mounting worry that the world's second-largest economy is unprepared to meet its emission reduction targets.

Under Kyoto, the targets vary by region: The European Union (news - web sites) is committed to cutting emissions to 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012; the United States agreed to a 7 percent reduction before President Bush (news - web sites) denounced the pact in 2001.

The White House has contended that complying with the treaty's requirement could cost millions of jobs, many of them to places like India and China, both signers of Kyoto but exempted from any limits on greenhouse gases.

"We are still learning about the science of climate change," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday. In the meantime, McClellan said, "We have made an unprecedented commitment to reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in a way that continues to grow our economy."

Not mentioned here, but of possible interest to others, is that Martin will probably announce Canada's intention to host the first COP/MOP (Meeting of Parties to Kyoto) in Montreal at the end of the year. This will be a pretty big deal, with about 10,000 participants and a lot of media attention. Hopefully it'll put pressure on Canada to take some REAL action on climate change.

[paisley]

best of luck earth... rootin for ya

[SevenSeasJim]

I really hope this works but I have a bad feeling it's not going to.

[paisley]

don't worry... be happy!

[Blane]

at least it's a step in the right direction. Kyoto doesn't go far enough, but it provides a framework that we can use for negotiating bigger and bolder steps.

you know what they say about the journey of a thousand miles...

[paisley]

every move in the right direction is a good move

[SevenSeasJim]

Don't get me wrong, i know it's a good first step, but not having the States and China included really hurts the cause.

Also Canada has apparently gone back on what emission's it had promised to (see below)

"the emission targets for large Canadian polluters have been cut back from the original federal plan that was unveiled in 2002"

"Ottawa's initial plan, unveiled in 2002, required large industrial emitters to cut back by 55 megatonnes as part of an overall 240 megatonne target.

But sources tell CBC News that the new deal lowers that to between 40 and 45 megatonnes."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/02/16/kyoto050216.html

[TomFoolery]

Shocking that Martin would want to bring any "Kyoto attention" to Canada given that we don't stand a chance in hell of meeting our targets.

The Canadian government has really disgusted me with their approach to this issue. Reactionary and short-sighted all the way.

I agree that this is fully needed as the first step. The big danger is that many people think Kyoto will solve the climate change problems - when it fails to do so (being a first step only) how willing will people be to make those next (financially) expensive steps...

[paisley]

Martin don't scare me, lets kick that boy's ass into compliance

if we're falling way short of projections we'll march on Ottawa

kind of glad not to be on board with Bush, let the next administration get involved... one more reason for the history books to look back at Bush with disdain... the Chinese are certainly an issue but to me they're a wild card on a lot of levels (a somewhat ominous one as they manage to carefully stay out of the press)... hoping most of my worries about China turn out to be unfounded

most people recycle now while 10 years ago it seemed more like a fad... for now I'll raise a glass to all the countries who are making an effort and I'm happy to give Kyoto the benefit of the doubt and see how it goes... a good day to be a Canadian

[Blane]

Actually,one of the reasons that Canada is hosting it is because they were under a TON of international pressure. Canada rides a fine line in international negotiations on Climate change between being one of the "good guys" and one of the "bad guys".

In fact, they were supposed to agree to host well over a month ago and were stalling like crazy because of disagreement within caucus (from what I understand). At any rate, it's a ballsy move by Martin, so I hope he can back it up wiht some action (and not just buying carbon credits to bail out industry).