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'Beyond Kyoto' Greenhouse Pact Being Formed

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 23:55 CDT

CANBERRA -- The United States, Australia, China, India and South Korea are likely to unveil this week a regional pact to combat greenhouse gas emissions by developing environmentally friendly energy technology, Australia said on Wednesday.

Environment Minister Ian Campbell said the countries had been working on a regional pact to tackle climate change beyond the Kyoto protocol, which requires rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.

The United States and Australia have refused to sign Kyoto, which came into force in February, because they say the pact unfairly excludes developing nations such as India and China. South Korea has ratified Kyoto.

"It's quite clear the Kyoto protocol won't get the world to where it wants to go ... We have got to find something that works better -- Australia is working on that with partners around the world," Campbell told reporters on Wednesday.

A government official, who declined to be named, said the pact, which The Australian newspaper reported was to be called the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, was likely to be announced later this week.

"We need to expand the energy the world consumes and reduce the emissions. That's going to need new technologies, it's going to need the development of new technologies and the deployment of them within developing countries," Campbell said.

"The development of that technology and the deployment of it as rapidly as possible, that is going to need something that is far more comprehensive, far more likely to produce results that the Kyoto protocol could even dream of."

PACT LONG IN THE MAKING

Campbell said greenhouse gases under Kyoto would actually rise by 40 percent, when scientists say emissions need to be cut by 50 percent to have any chance of limiting the impact of global warming.

The Australian newspaper said the five countries involved in the Asia-Pacific pact accounted for more than 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels such as coal in power stations and petrol in cars.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh separately discussed the pact with President Bush during recent trips to Washington, The Australian said.

"We have to engage internationally and we will announce the details of these proposals in the very near future ... we have been working on bilateral and multi-lateral arrangements on 'beyond Kyoto' for the past 12 months," Campbell said.

A panel of scientists that advises the United Nations has said world temperatures are likely to rise between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, triggering more frequent floods, droughts, melting of icecaps and glaciers and driving thousands of species to extinction.

On Tuesday, Australia released a climate change report that said the island continent could be up to two degrees Celsius warmer by 2030 and face more bushfires, heatwaves and storms despite efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.

Scientists say the planet's average surface temperature has increased by about 0.6 degrees Celsius over the past century and that the warmest decade of the past 100 years was the 1990s.

Researchers say further warming is inevitable because of the huge amount of extra carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by man's activities but the degree of future warming hinges on how nations control their greenhouse gas emissions now.

Source: REUTERS/By Michelle Nichols

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