Australia signs up to Kyoto Protocol
Wed 05 December 2007
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The first act of Australia's new Labour Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The news, which was greeted with a standing ovation by delegates gathered at the climate change conference in Bali, leaves the United States as the only developed country not to have ratified the Kyoto treaty.
Australia's move, however, was largely symbolic as the country is one of the few in the developed world likely to meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. International delegates in Bali have been meeting with the aim of laying the foundations for a successor agreement to Kyoto. The UN hopes that the Bali meeting will lay out the agenda and roadmap for negotiations over the next two years, with the aim of completing talks by the end of 2009.
The US is now the only developed country not to have ratified the treaty. The Financial Times reported that Harlan Watson, the US delegation's chief negotiator, said the US felt no pressure to follow Australia and that "it is up to each country to decide how to move forward". However, he said that the US "will be flexible and work for a consensus" on a post-Kyoto framework.
The US remains opposed to some elements of a new agreement that other countries see as essential. These include the stipulation that the framework should include legally binding short and long-term emissions reduction targets for developed countries. The US is also opposed to an international carbon trading system, such as that operated under the current Kyoto Protocol.
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