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UN climate talks end with pivotal deal
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-11 13:50
The United States is the world's biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, and the
Clinton administration was instrumental in negotiating the treaty protocol
initialed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan �� a pact the Senate subsequently refused to
ratify.
When Bush rejected Kyoto outright after taking office in 2001, he said its
mandatory energy cuts would harm the U.S. economy, and he complained that major
developing countries were not covered.
The protocol's language required its 157 member nations by 2005 to begin
talks on deeper emissions cuts for the next phase, which begins when Kyoto
expires in 2012.
In days of tough negotiation, the Kyoto nations settled on a plan whereby a
working group would begin developing post-2012 proposals. The agreement set no
deadline for completing that work, except to say it should be done early enough
to ensure that no gap develops after 2012.
That would guarantee an uninterrupted future for the burgeoning international
"carbon market," in which carbon reductions achieved by one company can be sold
to another to help it meet its target.
At the same time, the host Canadians tried to draw in the Americans on the
parallel track, under the umbrella 1992 U.N. climate treaty, which does not
mandate emissions cuts. As the days wore on, the language offered to the
Americans, and finally accepted by them, weakened.
"It's clear the Bush administration isn't willing to accept its
responsibility," climate expert Bill Hare of Greenpeace International said of
the continued U.S. rejection of global negotiations and emissions controls.
Explaining that stand earlier in the week, U.S. delegation chief Paula
Dobriansky said the Americans "believe firmly that negotiations will not reap
progress, as indicated, because there are differing perspectives."
Instead, the U.S. delegation said it favors voluntary efforts and bilateral
and regional arrangements to tackle climate change. It repeatedly pointed to $3
billion-a-year U.S. government spending on research and development of
energy-saving technologies as a demonstration of U.S. efforts on climate.
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