Banner in Russian and English demands Putin ratify Kyoto Treaty
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol would bind countries to a 5.5 percent
reduction in their 1990 levels of greenhouse-gas emissions by
2008.
"President Putin has had more than three years to analyse how
Kyoto could be implemented in Russia, and his stalling could now
derail the entire process," said Steven Guilbeault, one of our
climate campaigners now in Moscow. "Russia can play a leading role
in helping solve the problem of climate change or it can choose to
side with George Bush."
Since the Bush Administration decided to pull out of the
agreement in 2001, only with Russian ratification can the 1997
Protocol enter into force.
During the 2002 Earth Summit, Russian Prime Minister Kasyanov
said that Russia would ratify "soon", a commitment that was later
confirmed by President Putin. However, since then, the Russian
ratification process has been mired in the intricacies of Russian
politics with anti-Kyoto forces like Economic Development and Trade
Minister Gref having a field day in the face of Putin's hesitation
to ratify the agreement.
"All is ready for Russian ratification," Guilbeault added. "An
additional amendment for the Russian legislation process has
already been agreed this September by an inter-ministerial group
headed by Vice-Prime Minister Khrastenko. Everything is in
President Putin's hands. He has a political, economic and
environmental responsibility not just to Russia, but to the world,"
he concluded.
To take effect, the protocol must be ratified by no fewer than
55 countries, accounting for at least 55 percent of global
emissions in 1990. Current signatories account for only 44.2
percent of emissions, and only Russian ratification can now make
the treaty binding if the US refuses to do so. The US accounts for
one third of the 1990 emission benchmark.
To date, 119 States have ratified, accepted, or acceded to
Kyoto. Of the 37 industrialized countries who agreed emissions
targets under Kyoto, only 5 have not yet ratified:
Australia
Liechtenstein
Monaco
Russia
United States
Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest oil company and a major
contributor to George Bush's election campaign, has been a major
lobbying force against Kyoto ratification in the US. A memo
uncovered by Greenpeace recently suggests that the White House may
have used an Exxon front group in an attempt to suppress an EPA
study that recognised climate change as having human causes. (
You can read the full story here.)
The group, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), may have
sued the Environmental Protection Agency over the study at the
bidding of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Two
States Attorney Generals are demanding an investigation into the
links between the White House and the Exxon-funded CEI.
More information
Kyoto Protocol Thermometer from United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
Greenpeace Climate Change pages
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