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News :: Environment |
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U.S. Presses Russia To Abandon Kyoto Protocol |
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by splintr
(No verified email address) |
08 Feb 2003
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Russia: Wild Card in Kyoto Pact
By Steve Kettmann
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57499,00.html
Fears are mounting among environmentalists that the Bush administration has embarked on a fresh effort to kill an international treaty on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by pressuring Russia to bow out, too.
Late last year, Canada joined Europe in ratifying the controversial Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush had famously declared "dead." That left Russia as the last variable in the tense worldwide wrangling over the protocol's fate. If it gets ratified -- as President Vladimir Putin announced last year it would -- enough countries would be on board to trigger worldwide implementation.
That would be a political setback for the United States, which has recently been trumpeting its own program to reduce pollution by encouraging large corporations to make voluntary efforts. A lineup of 14 prominent U.S. corporations, including DuPont, Ford Motor Company and Motorola, announced in January that they were forming the Chicago Climate Exchange for trading greenhouse-gas emissions.
To many observers, Russia seemed to change its public stance on Kyoto following a recent visit to Moscow by Harlan Watson, the State Department's senior climate negotiator and special representative. Whether Watson was working behind the scenes to encourage the Russians not to ratify the treaty, or it's merely a matter of timing, speculation has been rampant that the United States has been flexing its diplomatic muscle.
"Many, many people think that they are trying to push Russia out of Kyoto," said Alexey Kokorin, who handles climate-change issues for the Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund, adding that given the expected secrecy behind any U.S. efforts, he had no hard facts to go on.
The Bush administration rejected the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001, leaving many to conclude that the treaty was doomed. But that July in Bonn, Germany, a compromise version of the treaty was agreed upon. It sets targets for reductions in emissions of heat-trapping gases below 1990 levels.
Watson could not be reached at the State Department for comment, but U.S. officials have denied lobbying Russia on Kyoto. However, the two countries now plan to work together to formulate policy on climate change -- and will hold a conference this fall in Russia on the topic.
The central issue is economics. Many experts believe that the protocol would have a positive economic impact in Russia, since the new system would feature buying and selling of so-called emissions credits. Russia, with its vast geography, would be in a position to sell credits.
But in January, Russia began emphasizing potential economic disadvantages of the protocol.
"Concern about the economic impact on the United States is one of the key considerations that led President Bush to reject the Kyoto Protocol," Watson reminded his hosts during his visit to Russia.
Alexey Kuraev of the Russian Regional Ecological Center said that while behind-the-scenes pressures would be difficult to detect, the U.S. government's public opposition to the protocol has forced Russia to change its own thinking.
"Naturally the U.S. government does not officially pressure Russia not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol," Kuraev said. "But after the United States withdrew from Kyoto, some of the influential Russian politicians started to say that Kyoto lost economic value for Russia."
But the creation of the Chicago Climate Exchange indicates that, even with no U.S. participation in Kyoto, it will be closely involved in emissions trading. Some speculate that the United States is trying to provide political cover to establish its own approach to mitigating global warming.
"We hear the United States is going to propose to Russia to develop a new international agreement on greenhouse gases that would be an alternative to Kyoto," said Kuraev. "This fact slowed down ratification of Kyoto by Russia also." |
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http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,57499,00.html
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