US won't budge on Kyoto
2004-10-23 09:07
Washington - The United States, flying in the face of snowballing world opinion, said on Friday it would not follow Russia's lead and ratify the Kyoto protocol on global warming.
"We have no intention of signing or ratifying it. We have not changed our views," a defiant deputy State Department spokesperson Adam Ereli said after the European Union and environmentalists across the globe hailed Moscow's decision and urged Washington to follow suit.
Heading the chorus of delight after the Russian cabinet approved the Kyoto pact and sent it to lawmakers for ratification was the European Union, which has been battling to save the accord thrown into disarray by the US walkout.
"This is a huge success for the international fight against climate change," declared European Commission President Romano Prodi. "Today [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin has sent a strong signal of his commitment and sense of responsibility.
Victory for EU
"We are happy that the Russian Duma has decided to ratify. We hope that the United States will now re-consider its position."
But the State Department left no room for hope.
"We note the actions taken today," said Ereli, "but I'd refer you to the Russians for opinion or comment on their rationale for ratifying it. Our position against it remains the same."
EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem said Russia's action "sends a very forceful signal to the rest of the world... It is also very much a victory for the European Union."
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, a Green party member, said, "For the first time there can be global responsibility for the world's climate and the management of its resources."
"This is an important signal to the entire international community," said German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, also a Green, the junior partner in Germany's governing coalition.
French Ecology Minister Serge Lepeltier said he was "delighted."
And Greenpeace International campaigner Steve Sawyer said US President George W Bush, whose rejection of Kyoto in 2001 pushed the pact toward extinction, was now isolated.
Getting Russia on board, he said, dealt "a major blow to President Bush and his paymasters in the fossil fuel industry.
Climate criminals
"His administration and other climate criminals like Exxon-Mobil have failed in their attempt to wreck Kyoto, even going so far as to suppress the work of their own scientists."
On the other side, Frank Maisano, a Washington lobbyist for the US utilities industry, dismissed the Russian move as "largely symbolic," and called the treaty "meaningless, ineffective and toothless."
China is a Kyoto member but as a developing country does not have to meet specific targets for cutting emissions.
The Protocol requires industrialised signatories to trim output of six "greenhouse" gases by 2008-2012 compared with their 1990 levels.