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S P E C I A L The Global Warming Debate

Global warming accord: 'tough' or a 'farce'?

Global warming graphic

Opinions vary on treaty

December 11, 1997
Web posted at: 11:07 a.m. EST (1607 GMT)

In this story:

(Reuters) -- World leaders hailed Thursday's international agreement to limit so-called "greenhouse" gas emissions, but the environmental group Greenpeace dismissed it as "a tragedy and a farce."

Many delegates to the U.N. conference on global warming were also concerned that the agreement, after 11 days of exhaustive negotiations, did not go far enough.

"This is not good enough for the future," European Union Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard said in Kyoto, Japan, where the global warming summit was held. "We would have liked the parties to be more ambitious."

'Totally inadequate'

Bjerregaard
Bjerregaard: "This is not good enough"   

Greenpeace, one of the most prominent in the growing lobby of environmental groups, said in a statement in Amsterdam that the agreement would not lead to any real reductions on 1990-level emissions of greenhouse gases.

"Failure to come up with a significant reduction in Kyoto has merely delayed the inevitable move away from coal and oil, but at a very high price," the organization added.

"Greenpeace has labeled the result of the Kyoto climate summit a tragedy and a farce because it is totally inadequate to slow the environmental impacts of climate change."

Japanese business, on the other hand, expressed concern that the emission targets Japan has accepted would prove hard to meet and might harm the nation's competitiveness.

"We must call the goal very tough," said Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation.

'A very good agreement'

President Clinton welcomed the accord, which commits the United States -- the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases -- to cut emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels in the period from 2008 to 2012.

"This agreement is environmentally strong and economically sound," he said in a statement in New York.

But Clinton singled out emissions cuts by developing countries -- a key area for the U.S. negotiating team -- as a problem area.

"We got what we wanted, which was joint implementation, emissions trading, a market-oriented approach. I wish it were a little stronger on developing-nation participation, but we opened the way ... this is a very good agreement," Clinton said.

Unity among developing countries

The head of a leading think-tank in India, Rajenda Pachauri, said developing countries had shown solidarity.

"By and large, India has come out all right, and this is largely because the G77 (developing countries) and China stuck together," Pachauri, director of the Tata Energy Research Institute, told reporters in New Delhi.

The talks nearly collapsed in the final 24 hours on the issue of Third World participation, as Washington pressed developing states to cut emissions.

Much of the future growth in greenhouse gas emissions is expected to originate in these countries. The head of the U.S. team expressed regret at the failure to achieve such commitments.

"This is perhaps the single greatest disappointment and regret," said Stuart Eizenstat, U.S. undersecretary of state and the nation's chief negotiator.

'What we have here is not ratifiable'

U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who addressed the conference, told Eizenstat in a message: "Addressing global warming is a long-term challenge and the Kyoto agreement is a vital turning point."

However, members of the U.S. Senate attending as observers doubted the agreement would gain ratification by the Republican-dominated body.

"What we have here is not ratifiable in the Senate in my judgment," said Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry.

The treaty was formally adopted with a single pounding of the gavel by the conference chairman, Japan's Environment Minister Hiroshi Oki, signaling his judgment that a consensus had been reached. No vote was taken.

The treaty would require cuts averaging 5.2 percent in greenhouse gases from 1990 levels in the period from 2008 to 2012. If ratified, it would tie most developed countries to cutting greenhouse gas emissions early in the next century, in most cases by 8 percent from 1990 levels.

'A splendid result'

Japan accepted a 6 percent cut, which Vice Trade Minister Osamu Watanabe said would not be a fatal blow to the country's economic growth.

In Australia, Prime Minister John Howard welcomed the agreement, under which Australia is one of only three countries entitled to increase greenhouse gas emissions.

"The outcome of the climate change conference in Kyoto represents a splendid result," Howard said. Australia, a major energy producer, had argued in Kyoto for a policy of differentiation to take into account countries' varying needs.

Some business leaders have expressed concern that cutting greenhouse gases could also cut jobs, but specialists in the environmental services sector challenged this argument.

"We can cut emissions tomorrow to much lower levels and create jobs using existing technologies and make money," said Lee Eng Lock of Supersymmetry Services in Singapore.

"The main problem is the mind-set of our leaders. They completely miss the point that it is cheaper to do it better," Lee said.

Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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