Australia won’t ratify Kyoto; Canada feels the heat
Australian Prime Minister John Howard signalled to the world on 5 June that Australia would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), saying it was "not in Australia’s interests" to do so. The reasoning behind the decision, he said, was that the "arrangements currently exclude — and are likely under present settings to continue to exclude — both developing countries and the US," and that Australia’s ratification of the Protocol would cost it jobs and industry. As such, Australia looks set to join the US as one of the key non-ratifiers of a treaty that aims at reducing worldwide emissions of six greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
The Kyoto Protocol, signed in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997 was to have originally governed 39 countries. With the Bush administration deciding over the course of 2001 not to ratify and Australia now looking set to follow suit, attention is turning to Canada as the key industrialised country yet to endorse the treaty. A Canadian decision is expected by December 2002, when countries will convene for the 8th Conference of the Parties (COP-8). Canadian ratification is far from certain, however. At a meeting last week of the subsidiary bodies to the UNFCCC, Canada was successful in placing clean energy exports on the agenda for COP-8. This is viewed by many other parties as a Canadian attempt to re-open the original treaty. At the same meeting, Russia expressed its interest in Canada’s proposal, which puts into doubt previous assumptions that Russia would support ratification. The Russian cabinet indicated its support for ratification on 11 April 2002. The Protocol has already been ratified by the EU (31 May 2002) and Japan (4 June 2002).
The four largest emitters of global greenhouse gases are the US, EU, Russia and Japan. For the Kyoto treaty to become international law, ratification is needed by at least 55 countries and by industrialised countries that emitted at least 55 per cent of the industrialised world’s CO2 in 1990. In spite of US (and likely Australian) rejection of Kyoto, the treaty will enter into force if it is ratified by at least the EU, Russia, Japan and either Canada or Poland.( See BRIDGES Weekly, 15 November 2001). Welcoming Japan’s ratification as "an essential step that puts global responsibility above short term economic considerations," Jennifer Morgan, Director of WWF’s Climate Change Programme, urged Canada’s leaders to follow suit, stating, "They should realise they risk being ostracised for remaining outside the Kyoto club unless Canada quickly ratifies the treaty."
Competitiveness and job losses: The bugbear for Australia and the US
Australia’s apprehensions on ratifying the Kyoto Protocol are primarily due to competitiveness concerns. Industrialised countries that ratify the agreement must reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the five-year period 2008 to 2012. Countries in the EU agreed to cut their emissions by eight percent. (See BRIDGES Weekly, 5 March 2002). Australia had secured the right to increase its emissions to a limit of eight percent by 2012, but this allocation has failed to persuade the Howard government to support ratification. Australia’s unique position as a net energy exporter among developed countries was highlighted by Howard, who disparaged "the idea that you can sign up to a protocol that would facilitate the export of dirty industries from this country into developing countries and thereby facilitate the flight of jobs from this country".
Gore slams Bush for refusing global climate report
On 8 June, former US Vice President Al Gore on the criticised US President George W. Bush for dismissing a 3 June report from the US Environmental Protection Agency that blames human activity as a root cause for global warming (see http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/global/climate/02060601.htm). Bush said he would continue to press for voluntary efforts and financial incentives for US companies to reduce emissions.
Gore, the 2000 Democratic Party presidential nominee and a well-known supporter of environmental protection, said the president had given in to special interests that run the Republican Party and rejected the report rather than accept it and do something about global warming. According to Gore, the Bush administration has put "lobbyists for the polluters in charge of policies" and put "the hungriest fox they could find" to guard government henhouses, Gore said. Republicans want to turn their back on the environment rather than embrace new technologies that can clean up the environment and create jobs, Gore said.
"Australia Backs Out of Climate Protocol," ENS, 6 June 2002; "Japan’s Decision to Ratify Kyoto Climate Treaty Increases Pressure on Canada," WWF PRESS RELEASE, 4 June 2002; "Gore slams Bush For Refusing Global Climate Report," ENS, 10 June 2002.