CNE Climate News March 2001

Greens call for a boycott on US oil multinationals

Immediate: Thursday 29th March 2001

"If Bush will only listen to big business then we must make big business listen to us."

"George W Bush is flying in the face of growing scientific consensus on
the
reality of global climate change," says Dr John Devaney, Green Party
International Spokesperson. "Most Americans [1], believe climate change is
a
serious threat but their leader prefers to swallow the lies of the fossil
fuel lobby.

"Bush's reasoning for ignoring the Kyoto agreement range from dumb through
ignorant, to patronising. To say that the world's poorest countries should
not be allowed any increase in emissions is tantamount to saying they
should
be kept in poverty.

Greens across Europe have rallied to the call for a boycott of US oil
multinationals, namely, Exxon (Esso), Texaco and Chevron. Leading the cry
is
the Green Group/European Free Alliance, the fourth largest political
grouping in the European Parliament.

Alexander de Roo, (Green) Vice-President of the Environment Committee in
the
European Parliament, said in reaction to a declaration by the US
administration that it considers the Kyoto Protocol as dead: "Obviously,
the
American oil giants are one of the driving forces behind this spectacular
reversal of US environmental policies by George Bush, who himself was
working for the Texan oil industry.

"The US oil companies are pushing for a U-turn in environmental policies
by
opposing any reduction in green house gas emissions. It is no co-incidence
that they are at the same time pushing for new drilling licenses in
environmentally protected areas in Alaska."

Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for the South East added: "Europe must stand up
to
irresponsible US policies by rejecting them at the petrol pump. A polite
request, such as that by the EU Summit in Stockholm, obviously will not
change the Americans' mind. Unless the US rethinks its position, direct
boycott is the only language they will understand."

NOTES
[1] Opinion polls from 1997 onwards have consistently shown that more than
50% of the US public is concerned about climate change.

Ends

For further details contact:

John Devaney on 0117 974 4591 (eve), 0117 930 1258 (day), or
johndevaney@ukonline.co.uk

Alan Francis, Press Officer for UK Green MEPs - 0776 997 0691

back to CNE latest news

Schroeder in US
Associated Press
Times
Associated Press 29th March

Thursday March 29 3:27 AM ET
Schroeder Taking Concerns to Bush
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House calls it a get-acquainted session, but German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is bringing a list of grievances and concerns to President Bush.

With the Bush administration signaling it will not implement a global warming treaty, Schroeder planned to urge Bush not to back off the accord, a German government official said.

Schroeder was conveying European dismay at Bush's recent announcement that he would not seek curbs on carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. industry, which reversed a position Bush took during last year's presidential campaign. The emissions are thought to contribute to global warming.

"We hope the Americans will change their mind, because we Europeans think we have the better arguments,'' said the German official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity before Schroeder's trip.

Schroeder was meeting Bush on Thursday at the White House.

Germany's environmental Green Party is in a governing coalition with Schroeder's Social Democrats. The ranking Green member is Joschka Fischer, the foreign minister.

Schroeder also was to use his first meeting with Bush to raise European misgivings about American plans for a national missile defense system and about U.S.-Russian tensions, the German official said. Specifically, Schroeder was troubled by the recent tit-for-tat U.S. and Russian expulsions of alleged spies.

The White House offered only a broad preview of the meeting. "The president expects to talk about the strong lasting bilateral relationship we have with Germany,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

"They're going to discuss regional and global issues and have substantive talks,'' said another Bush administration official who asked not to be identified by name. As a first sit-down, it was largely a get-to-know-you meeting, the official said.

The German leader nevertheless was raising some of the thorniest issues between the two nations.

Schroeder wrote to Bush this month urging him to rethink his stand on pollution but has received no reply, the German official said.

Europeans are upset mainly over Bush's attitudes toward the Kyoto agreement, negotiated in 1997 to lower levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Many scientists think greenhouse gases are heating up the Earth's atmosphere dangerously. The agreement, never ratified by the United States, specifies that industrial nations must reduce emissions by 2012 to below 1990 levels. The United States would be required to cut emissions by 7.2 percent of its 1990 level.

Christie Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday the administration has no plans to implement the accord because Congress would never ratify it.

The White House said Wednesday that Bush would seek an alternative to the Kyoto global warming pact that would ``include the world'' in the effort to reduce pollution. Fleischer told reporters that Bush wants to work with U.S. allies on a plan that would require developing nations to meet certain standards.

"It is important that the U.S. accept its responsibility for the world climate,'' Schroeder said in an interview in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times. ``They are the biggest economy in the world and the heaviest energy consumers.''

Japanese officials also expressed dismay about the Bush administration's view of the Kyoto treaty. In Tokyo, Yasuko Shiraishi, an Environment Ministry official, said the government would continue working with the European Union and other nations to persuade the United States to implement the accord

And Teiichi Aramaki, the Kyoto governor, said, "It is truly unfortunate and regrettable because (Bush's decision) would nullify efforts taken so far by the international community.''

On security topics, Schroeder wanted to ask for details on U.S. missile defense plans that have sparked opposition from Russia and European nations.

At the same time, the German official said, Schroeder would defend European plans for a military role within NATO.

Schroeder also will seek reassurances from Bush that he will abide by a Clinton administration agreement to urge American courts to close class-action lawsuits by Nazi-era slave laborers and accept a new German foundation as the sole channel for settling claims.
Wednesday, March 28, 2001
LA Times (extracts of article. For full article see http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/updates2/lat_gerhard010328.htm)

back to CNE latest news

Germany Seeks to Sway U.S. to Uphold Emissions Goals Diplomacy: In talks with Bush, chancellor plans to broach White House attitude toward global concerns.

By CAROL J. WILLIAMS, Times Staff Writer

BERLIN--With all due respect, Mr. President, planet Earth is not a U.S. plaything to be saved or sullied depending on popular mood swings driven by fears of recession and rolling blackouts.

That, in spirit, is the message German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will deliver to President Bush on Thursday when the two leaders meet in Washington to ponder an expanding chasm between Western powers no longer unified by the common menace of the Cold War.

In a wide-ranging and exclusive interview with The Times, Schroeder repeatedly emphasized the concerns of his country and the rest of Europe that the U.S. is cavalierly ignoring air pollution standards defined in the 1997 Kyoto, Japan, environmental protocols and scuttling a global climate treaty.

The leader of Europe's most populous nation also outlined Monday night his concerns about aerospace and agricultural trade issues, U.S. plans for a national missile defense system, the necessity of supporting reform in Russia and the threat of a U.S. pullout from Balkan peacekeeping missions that he said Europeans are still unable to manage alone.

Although his opinions and worries were cradled in the polite, measured language of allied diplomacy, Schroeder echoed the concerns of other European nations and said the continent will not remain silent if the new administration disregards the wider world's interests.

"There is fear in Europe that the administration will pay no attention to the aims defined in Kyoto," the chancellor said.

The Bush administration announced this month that, because of California's energy crisis, the U.S. will ignore carbon dioxide emission standards set at the world climate conference in the Japanese city. The U.S. decision drew criticism from Europeans. The most recent round of the climate conference, held in the Netherlands in November, also failed to produce a global accord because of U.S. refusal to accept proposed limits.

"It is important that the U.S. accept its responsibility for the world climate. They are the biggest economy in the world and the heaviest energy consumers," Schroeder said, adding that he will stress to Bush the moral imperative of protecting the environment for future generations.

"This is one of those issues where one can say from a basis of real friendship: 'Dear friends, we are of the opinion that if you abandon Kyoto, you are in the wrong,' " Schroeder said.

(...)

On the positive side, he noted, California's Silicon Valley is home to many spinoff companies of major German manufacturers, and the information technology field holds good prospects for "magnificent cooperation."

"I would mention also that we could learn from each other concerning energy policy, [such as] that liberalization can be taken too far," Schroeder said of the recent California blackouts, a problem Europeans are spared because of continuing heavy regulation. "Supply guarantees are something to which Europeans are paying proper attention."

back to CNE latest news

Thursday March 29 2:07 PM ET
German Leader Questions Bush Plan
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder raised questions Thursday about President Bush's plans for a missile defense system and his opposition to a global-warming treaty. But Bush said he was heartened by their first meeting, declaring Schroeder ``at least interested in our point of view.''

The two leaders met in the Oval Office for more than two hours, discussing a range of ticklish issues, several of which they disagree on. But Bush said, "We can disagree and still be friends.'' Schroeder described the session as "frank.''

"We agreed on practically everything except obviously one thing, and that was, no surprise, the Kyoto protocol,'' Schroeder said through a translator, referring to a global-warming pact that the United States has rejected.

"We have different opinions and we are happy to admit to you that we hold different opinions,'' Schroeder said. "We were also happy to admit to one another that we have different positions.''

Bush gave no indication his view of global warming or the Kyoto agreement changed after their session.

The president said he explained to Schroeder that a domestic "energy crisis'' made capping carbon dioxide emissions from power plants - thought to be a contributor to global warming - unfeasible. Bush had promised during his campaign to limit such emissions.

Schroeder pointed out that Germany will host a conference on the Kyoto agreement this summer, and said the U.S. government will have to explain its decision there. "This is an issue for the president and his country to decide,'' Schroeder said.

Schroeder said he raised several questions about Bush's plan for a missile defense shield, including who would be covered by it, whether it is technically feasible and what the repercussions would be for nuclear disarmament.

Bush told reporters he made his case for the system, saying it was meant to protect against "extremists'' who might want to attack the United States or Germany. He said he was pleased ``somebody at least is interested in our point of view, and for that I'm grateful.''

Germany's environmental Green Party is in a governing coalition with Schroeder's Social Democrats. The ranking Green member is Joschka Fischer, the foreign minister.

Christie Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday the administration has no plans to implement the accord because Congress would never ratify it.

"It is important that the U.S. accept its responsibility for the world climate,'' Schroeder said in an interview in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times. "They are the biggest economy in the world and the heaviest energy consumers.''

And Teiichi Aramaki, the Kyoto governor, said, "It is truly unfortunate and regrettable because (Bush's decision) would nullify efforts taken so far by the international community.''

back to CNE latest news

US aims to pull out of Kyoto Protocol
White House Press Briefing which clearly sets out the President's views on the Kyoto Protocol
LA Times
ENDs report
Japanese react with dismay (Washington Post)
Worldwatch Institute Press release
Reuters
Australian reaction
Swedish reaction
Wallstroem reaction
Asian Reaction
New Zealand Reaction
Pakistan -WWF press release
Japanese reaction (Japan Times)
Japanese NGO press release
Carter urges Bush to act
Pacific Islands regret Bush action
NYT article summarising European anger
Russian reaction
South African reaction
Council of European Churches reaction
World Council of Churches Reaction
US Church leaders' reaction
Transport and Environment Federation reaction
Brazilian reaction
China, South Korea, Japan joint response
Swiss response (letter from President to Bush)
African NGOs' reaction
Spanish Trade Union reaction

back to CNE latest news

U.S. Aims to Pull Out of Warming Treaty By Eric Pianin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 28, 2001; Page A01

The White House recently sought advice from the State Department about how the United States can legally withdraw its signature from a landmark 1997 global warming agreement, signaling its intent to pull out despite efforts by European and Japanese leaders to try to keep the agreement alive, an administration source said yesterday.

The global warming treaty -- negotiated and signed in Kyoto, Japan -- marked the first time that the world's industrial nations committed to binding limits on the heat-trapping gases that scientists believe threaten catastrophic changes in the planet's climate. Under its terms, the United States would have to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and certain other pollutants by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

However, the Senate has refused to ratify the treaty, and President Bush wrote to four conservative senators March 13 that he opposed the agreement because it exempts developing countries and would harm the U.S. economy.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman told reporters yesterday that the Kyoto protocol was dead as far as the administration was concerned and that if the Europeans and Japanese wanted to reach an agreement, they would have to abandon the outlines of the accord and take a different approach.

"No, we have no interest in implementing that treaty," Whitman said. "If there's a general agreement that we need to be addressing the global climate change issue, [the question is] how do we do it in a way that allows us to make some progress, instead of spending our time committed to something that isn't going to go."

The efforts by the administration to further distance the United States from the global warming accord seemed certain to stun European Union officials, who have been urging Bush to help restart stalled talks on implementing the agreement.

Whitman's comments angered environmental groups, which already are upset by Bush's decision March 13 to reverse himself on a campaign pledge to seek major reductions in U.S. power plant carbon dioxide emissions. Environmentalists and Democrats have condemned that decision as a major setback to efforts to combat global warming.

EU leaders sent Bush a letter last week saying that the United States and Europe "urgently needed" talks on a follow-up to last year's failed efforts in The Hague to try to reach accommodation on a global warming treaty. Until yesterday, Whitman had kept a dim hope alive that the administration might try to negotiate a deal this summer, despite Bush's opposition to the Kyoto protocol.

In light of Bush's March 13 letter, a White House official contacted the State Department inquiring what the administration was required to do to indicate that it would not ratify the Kyoto agreement, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The White House was told that it could withdraw by having Secretary of State Colin L. Powell send a letter to the United Nations notifying it that the United States has no intention of ratifying the agreement, the source said.

A senior State Department official said last night that his department was asked to help determine "where do we go from here" as part of a review of the climate change accord. But the official insisted that how to "unsign" the Kyoto treaty "was not one of the questions tasked out under the review."

Whitman said that the president continues to believe global warming is a serious issue and that the administration will remain engaged in international negotiations on ways to address climate change.

Whitman noted that no other major industrial country has ratified the Kyoto agreement. "We are not the only ones who have problems with it," Whitman said.

The next round of Kyoto talks is slated for July in Bonn, where some expect the Bush administration to present alternatives.

A week before Bush decided he would not seek limits on carbon dioxide emissions by power plants, Whitman warned him in a memo that he must demonstrate his commitment to cutting greenhouse gases or risk undermining the United States' standing among its allies.

"Mr. President, this is a credibility issue for the U.S. in the international community. It is also an issue that is resonating here at home," she wrote in the March 6 memo. "We need to appear engaged."

Yesterday's developments angered environmental leaders, who in the immediate aftermath of Bush's inauguration in January had thought the administration might prove willing to take steps to address global warming. Industry groups that have long opposed the Kyoto protocol cheered the administration's steps.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said the White House position dangerously erodes U.S. credibility in Europe. "The president has walked away from yet another campaign promise on global warming, and infuriated our allies in the process," he said. "Declaring the Kyoto negotiations dead rather than proposing changes which would make it acceptable will delay action on global warming for years and years."

Glenn F. Kelly, executive director of the Global Climate Coalition, an industry group, said, "One of the things the administration should be applauded for is early recognition that the Kyoto protocol is significantly flawed and that continuing to invest efforts and resources into fixing it will simply be futile."

Staff writer Steven Mufson contributed to this report.

back to CNE latest news

USA deals further blow to Kyoto climate deal
ENDS Daily - 28/03/01 ------------------------- The American government has given the clearest sign yet that it will not participate in the UN Kyoto climate protocol, reducing the chances of the instrument ever entering into force and leaving the EU - as the chief supporter of the protocol among industrialised countries - politically exposed.

The news was broken yesterday by head of the US environmental protection agency Christy Whitman. "We have no interest in implementing that treaty," she told journalists, suggesting that there was no point "spending our time committed to something that isn't going to go".

Ms Whitman's statement dramatically confirms recent indications that the new administration of president George Bush is considerably more hostile to the Kyoto protocol than its predecessor (ENDS Daily 14 March). Urgent pleas from EU leaders for the US to re-think its position (ENDS Daily 26 March) appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

EU environment commissioner Margot Wallström led European reactions to the announcement today: "It is very worrying if it is true that the US intends to pull out of the Kyoto protocol. The EU is willing to discuss details and problems - but not to scrap the whole protocol," she said.

European environmental groups were not so much worried as distraught. "The world is tottering on the brink of climate disaster," warned Friends of the Earth Europe today, before urging the EU to "fight to make the climate treaty work, with or without the USA".

Whether the protocol will ever be able to enter into force without US participation is now the key question. Not only must 55 parties to its parent climate change convention ratify, but these must include industrialise (annex 1) states accounting for at least 55% of 1990 carbon dioxide emissions from that group. Since the USA alone accounted for 34% of annex 1 1990 emissions, this leaves little room for manoeuvre.

According to a paper just released by Brussels-based think-tank the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), however, the gap can be bridged if the EU "abandons its strategy of concentrating on the USA". The EU must "put aside its internal squabbles," "summon up the courage of its convictions" and ratify the protocol unilaterally. It should then focus on alliance building, particularly with Russia and CIS countries. "Eventually," predicts CEPS, "Japan and other Umbrella Group countries might become interested in joining rather than staying outside the club".

Follow-up: US EPA (http://www.epa.gov), tel: +1 202 564 4455; European Commission (http://europa.eu.int/comm), tel: +32 2 299 1111; Friends of the Earth Europe (http://www.foeeurope.org), tel: +32 2 542 0189; CEPS (http://www.ceps.be), tel: +32 2 229 3911.

Japan Dismayed by Bush's Stance on Global Warming Accord

By Doug Struck Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, March 28, 2001; 11:57 AM

TOKYO, March 28 – The Bush administration's declaration that it has "no interest" in implementing a milestone 1997 international agreement to combat global warming stunned Japan, which had helped broker the accord and is still hoping for its ratification.

"If this is true, Japan will be dismayed and deeply disappointed," said Japan's ambassador in charge of global environmental affairs, Kazuo Asakai. "I'm hoping this isn't true." The agreement, he said, "is very serious and important."

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said Tuesday the administration has "no interest in implementing that treaty," referring to the "Kyoto Accord" signed in Japan.

The accord was the first in which industrial nations pledged to reduce their emissions of damaging gases that are suspected of causing an alarming increase in temperatures around the Earth. It was hailed as a first step to slow global warming.

"This will jeopardize all the efforts and progress made until 1997. The Kyoto Accord will be a waste, and three years of efforts by many people after the accord to enact a new treaty will be broken," said Mie Asaoka, executive director of the Kiko Forum, a network of Japanese environmental groups that worked on the historic accord.

"This is a serious, sinful statement. It will hit the Japanese government hard," she said.

In fact, Japan and the other parties to the accord have yet to ratify the agreement and are still arguing over how to meet the ambitious goals, which call for reductions ranging from 5 to 7 percent of so-called "greenhouse gases" by 2012. The Japanese government itself is squirming at the prospect of imposing stiff emissions reductions on its industries during the current economic downturn.

But as the chairman of the summit when the accord was signed, Japan has taken the lead in pushing for its successful implementation. Japan was hoping a compromise on the mechanics of those reductions would be worked out in time for ratification at a meeting in Germany later this year.

The announcement came even as countries in the region are reverberating over what many here see as another instance of Washington backing out of a global commitment. President Bush earlier this month cast doubt on a key U.S. agreement with North Korea, provoking a stream of heated threats from the Stalinist government and startling Japan and South Korea.

The Bush administration's position on the Kyoto Accord is distressful to Japan because it caught Tokyo, a close ally, by surprise. Whitman's comments were reported in the media even as Japanese officials were being assured that the policy was still being studied by the new American administration.

"The understanding of the Japanese government is that the United States is conducting a review of its policy toward the Kyoto Protocol," said Asakai. "I hope the U.S. is still doing that."

Japan has scheduled an international conference next month to brainstorm on how to make the Kyoto Accords work. And just a day before Whitman made her comments, the head of Japan's Global Environmental Bureau, Hironori Hamanaka, said he was hoping the United States "will not make our efforts of many years in vain."

"We believe the position of the Bush administration will hold the key to future climate negotiations," Hamanaka said Monday.

Under the terms of the accord, it could be ratified if Japan, Europe, Russia and several other countries agree, despite the U.S. abstention. But the United States is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, and one source acknowledged "politically and environmentally, that may not make sense."

Hiroshi Ohki, who was Japan's environmental minister in 1997 and now heads the global environmental policy group within Japan's ruling party, said it appeared President Bush has favored industrial interests over combating global warming.

"I do not understand the background of this sudden change in position of the United States," he said. Despite concerns about the cost of reducing emissions, "we thought we could come up with some agreement. I was not very pessimistic," he said. And he had been encouraged by statements from Whitman, he said.

"We had the impression she was trying to work for the Kyoto Protocol, but the industries weren't," he said.

President Bush on March 13 reversed a promise he made while campaigning for the presidency, saying he would not seek major reductions in U.S. power plant carbon dioxide emissions.

Whitman told reporters the White House still sees global warming as a serious problem. "If there's a general agreement that we need to be addressing the global climate change issue, [the question is] how do we do it in a way that allows us to make some progress, instead of spending our time committed to something that isn't going to go," she said.

THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT FOR ANOTHER CLIMATE TREATY

The U.S. administration's decision to abandon America's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol has created the most serious international environmental policy crisis in years, says President of the Worldwatch Institute, Christopher Flavin. Today's development puts at risk a decade of efforts to craft an agreement to protect the world from climate change.

"The world cannot afford to wait for another climate protocol to be drafted," said Flavin. "The Kyoto Protocol isn't perfect - largely because of loopholes insisted on by the previous U.S. administration - but it's all that's standing between us and a future of more severe storms and rising sea levels. It is time for Europe and Japan to call the U.S. bluff and adopt the Kyoto Protocol, perhaps abandoning some of the problematic elements insisted on by the United States"

The U.S. is a key player in the climate problem, accounting for one-quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions and nearly half of the increase in emissions since 1990, according to the Institute's latest figures. However, the best way to bring the U.S. into the climate treaty process at this point is for other countries to proceed with Kyoto, with the U.S. joining later when political circumstances have changed.

Although President Bush has argued that the Kyoto Protocol could damage the economy, not implementing the treaty would actually be more damaging. Outside the U.S., many countries are moving rapidly to pursue a new generation of 21st century energy technologies such as fuel cells, wind turbines, and solar electric generators. The attempt by the Bush administration to return to reliance on coal, a dirty fuel that is a relic of the 19th century, would be a costly economic mistake.

"In the end," says Flavin, "those countries that address climate change earliest will dominate the massive new energy technology markets of the new century-and create millions of jobs in the process".

END

Note to journalists: From April 2-11 Christopher Flavin will visit Germany (Berlin), Austria (Vienna) and Spain (Barcelona and Mallorca). For information on press events and interview opportunities, contact Leanne Mitchell (details below).

For more information, contact:

Leanne Mitchell, Public Relations Specialist. Tel: (1 202) 452-1999 ext. 527; email:lmitchell@worldwatch.org

*************************************************************************** The Worldwatch Press Information list is maintained by the Worldwatch Institute for the global news media. Postings to this list will include advance copies of news releases and notification of press conferences. The Worldwatch Institute is a nonprofit research organization that analyzes global environmental and development issues. Worldwatch's expert researchers are available to provide journalists with the latest data and thinking on global environmental and development trends. To remove yourself from this mailing list, send the following command in email to <Majordomo@crest.org>: unsubscribe worldwatch end To contact the press office at Worldwatch directly, send email to <owner-worldwatch@crest.org>

US KYOTO SECOND NIGHTLEAD
By Michael Christie
WASHINGTON, March 29 Reuters - US President George W Bush walked into a hail
of protest today after ditching the 1997 Kyoto treaty aimed at staving off
global warning, with Pacific islands warning rising seas could wipe them off
the map.

The European Union said it was "very worried" by the US decision, Japan
urged Washington to reconsider and Australia reminded the world's most
voracious resources consumer it had a responsibility to cut the globe's
emissions of greenhouse gases.
In the Pacific Ocean, island states already suffering devastation because of
rising sea levels and severe storms and droughts said their very survival
was at stake.

"It is very worrying if it is true that the US intends to pull out of the
protocol," EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said in a statement.
"The EU is willing to discuss details and problems -- but not scrap the
whole protocol."

British Environment Minister Michael Meacher said in a BBC television
interview the US decision was extremely serious.

"(Global warming) is the most dangerous and fearful challenge to humanity
over the next 100 years," Meacher said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday President Bush had been
"unequivocal".

"He does not support the Kyoto treaty. It is not in the United States'
economic best interest," Fleischer told reporters.

The UN pact was signed in the Japanese city of Kyoto by ex-president Bill
Clinton and leaders of other industrialised countries, but it has not been
ratified by the US Senate.
Under the treaty, the major powers agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions,
which result mainly from burning coal and oil, by an average of 5.2 percent
below 1990 levels by 2012.

Scientists believe that greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, trap
heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming, which can cause
disastrous weather changes.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, bringing together research by
around 2,000 scientists, said this year the consequences could include big
floods, long droughts and the extinction of countless species.

Fleischer said Bush opposed Kyoto because it does not bind developing
nations to curb emissions and he believes the costs outweigh the benefits.

Coming on top of a decision by Bush not to ask US power plants to cut
emissions of carbon dioxide, Washington's stance on the Kyoto pact was seen
by some as its kiss of death.

"The Kyoto protocol wouldn't work without the United States," Australian
Environment Minister Robert Hill told reporters.

While sympathetic to Bush's desire to review US energy policy after taking
office this year, Hill said the collapse of the Kyoto protocol would be "a
major step backwards".

The country responsible for 30 percent of global greenhouse gases "cannot
easily walk away from that responsibility", he said. "Time is against us, we
are already starting to experience the consequences of climate change."

Among those most threatened by climate change are low-lying atolls in the
Pacific.
The tiny nation of Kiribati said it was already experiencing coastal
erosion, droughts and severe storms as sea levels rose.

"It is a terrible economic problem, it is our very survival," said Baranika
Etuati, acting director of the Department of Environment and Conservation in
Kiribati.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, urged Bush to reconsider.

New Zealand said it shared the "grave concern and disappointment" of other
countries.
Energy Minister Pete Hodgson told parliament Foreign Affairs Minister Phil
Goff would be in Washington next week.

"He will be setting out New Zealand's concerns very clearly and asking the
Bush administration to stay fully involved to develop an effective response
to climate change," Hodgson said.

Environmentalists wept and fumed.
Greenpeace climate campaigner Angie Heffernan, based in the Fijian capital
Suva, said Bush's decision was driven "by oil, coal and gas interests".
"Greenpeace is disgusted and appalled at the United States," Heffernan said

US KYOTO AUST
PARLY 009
CANBERRA, March 29 AAP - The federal government today vowed to try and
persuade the US to back down on a bid to crush the Kyoto Protocol while
admitting it was not content with the treaty.

Environment Minister Robert Hill held out hope for ratification of the
treaty to curb global warming and said he would travel to the US in the next
fortnight for talks on climate change.

He planned to meet with US officials and representatives from developed and
developing nations trying to reach agreement.

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Christie Todd Whitman,
yesterday said the government would not comply with the Protocol in its
present form.

The Australian Greens and Australian Conservation Foundation today demanded
the government clarify its stance on the Kyoto Protocol, slamming the US
decision devastating for the economy and environment.

Senator Hill conceded the Protocol would fail without the support of the US
while also saying he believed it needed more work for Australia to ratify
it.

"Whether we will be able to persuade the United States of the merit of the
Kyoto Protocol as an instrument I obviously don't know," Senator Hill told
parliament.

"The Kyoto Protocol was an historic accord in that it for the first time set
a targeted reduction of greenhouse gases for the developed world, five per
cent off 1990 levels."

But Australia was interested in a better global outcome for climate change
and wanted all countries to contribute their fair share to achieving such a
goal, Senator Hill said.

Australia and the US were largely blamed for collapsed climate change talks
last November in The Hague when parties to the Protocol gathered to reach
agreement on its contents.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty signed by 84 countries in 1997
under which developed countries are aiming to limit greenhouse gas
emissions.

The US wants developing countries to greater contribute to emission
reductions before the Protocol comes into effect.

To become legally binding the protocol must be ratified by at least 55
countries.
Greens Senator Bob Brown said the US decision would send shockwaves around
the world.

"Prime Minister Howard should call President (George) Bush and ask him to
reverse the decision," Senator Brown told reporters.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said the decision was a
disaster for Australia's economic and environmental future.

"Australia must reaffirm support for the Kyoto Protocol and leave the
umbrella group (of developed countries undertaking climate change
negotiations)," campaigner John Connor told AAP
AAP lm/daw

Subject: (BN ) Sweden Condemns U.S. Decision to Scrap Kyoto Climate
Date: Thu, Mar 29, 2001, 10:38 AM

Sweden Condemns U.S. Decision to Scrap Kyoto Climate Plan
2001-03-28 12:14 (New York)

Sweden Condemns U.S. Decision to Scrap Kyoto Climate Plan

     Stockholm, March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Sweden condemned as
``appalling'' U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to walk
away from a plan to limit global warming, saying European nations
will have to consider working alone on the problem.
     Environment minister Kjell Larsson, whose nation currently
holds the rotating European Union presidency, said he wanted to
meet with U.S. officials in Washington as soon as possible,
hoping there was still a chance to revive the nation's support
for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which mandates industrial nations to
cut emissions of gases blamed for damaging the climate.
     His comments, in a telephone interview, follow remarks by
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman who
told reporters ``we have no interest in implementing that
treaty,'' the Washington Post reported. Sweden and other EU
nations want to implement the Kyoto accord, which Bush
administration officials say will be too costly for industry.
     ``It is a situation which is not satisfactory at all,'' said
Larsson. ``The American administration seems unready to accept
its huge responsibility to the environment.''
     Larsson said EU environment ministers meeting this weekend
in Sweden would discuss ways to draw the U.S. back to the
negotiating table. Even so, he said ministers had to consider
whether the EU and other nations would work to implement the
Kyoto plan without U.S. support.
     ``It would be a worst-case scenario,'' Larsson said. ``We
have to have more discussions on that issue.''

November Talks

     Talks to spell out the fine print to the Kyoto accord
collapsed in November in The Hague, with the U.S. and European
Union at odds about just how nations should make cuts.
     The U.S. wanted more market-friendly mechanisms to cut the
cost of complying with the accord for industry and consumers,
while the EU wanted to restrict those measures, believing them to
be loopholes. Larsson said the EU still is willing to negotiate
on the issues.
     ``We have all the time tried to be as flexible as possible
and to find solutions that are agreeable to all parties, but we
want to guard the integrity of the protocol,'' he said. ``Those
limits are not put forward by ourselves. They are put forward by
the science.''

--Reed V. Landberg in the London newsroom 44-20-7330-7862 or at
landberg@Bloomberg.net.

EU to confront Bush over climate retreat
ENDS Daily - 29/03/01
-------------------------
The EU will next week send a high-level delegation to
Washington in a bid to "clarify" the USA's position on the
Kyoto climate protocol. The move was announced by
environment chief Margot Wallström as European condemnations
of the Bush administration's apparent rejection of the Kyoto
protocol multiplied.

"It's extremely worrying, we don't like what we hear," the
commissioner said. Ms Wallström will travel with Swedish
environment minister, Council of Ministers' president Kjell
Larsson and a representative of the Belgian government, next
in line for the EU's rotating chairmanship. The visit is
being organised despite the fact that the EU has received no
official confirmation of the US position, nor a reply to a
letter sent last week urging early dialogue on the issue.

Meanwhile Dutch environment minister and chairman of the
Kyoto protocol negotiations Jan Pronk has already travelled
to Washington for talks. A spokesperson said he was
concerned by the new signals coming from the USA. She added
that Mr Pronk hoped to issue new proposals for a possible
compromise agreement early next month.

White House and state department spokespeople yesterday
confirmed that the USA was "not looking for" ratification of
the protocol, but denied newspaper reports that the
government had taken steps to "unsign" it. They insisted
that the USA would attend resumed negotiations in July. The
position would not change until an ongoing review of US
climate policy was complete, they said.

EU politicians have nevertheless reacted with outrage,
including a call by the European Parliament's green group for
European consumers to boycott American oil companies, "namely
Exxon, Texaco and Chevron".

UK environment minister Michael Meacher said the situation
was "exceptionally serious" but insisted the EU should still
ratify Kyoto even if the Americans did not. According to his
Danish counterpart Svend Auken: "The USA may be the world's
greatest country, but it must not be permitted to dictate to
the rest of us that we are not to do something on which there
is otherwise broad agreement." "We shall continue despite
the problems [and] we in the EU will work urgently to bring
Japan and Russia in particular into the agreement."

Ms Wallström said it was particularly serious that Mr Bush
had questioned the growing scientific consensus on the causes
and dangers of climate change.

Follow-up: European Commission (http://europa.eu.int/comm),
tel: +32 2 299 1111. See also statement by Svend Auken
(http://www.mem.dk/auken/kommentar/Kampenomklimaet.htm).

Thursday, 29 March 2001 Media Statement
NZ concerned at US signals on Kyoto Protocol

New Zealand shares the grave concern disappointment of many other
nations at recent statements from the Bush Administration indicating
that the United States is considering abandoning the Kyoto Protocol,
Pete Hodgson said today.

Mr Hodgson, the convenor of the New Zealand Ministerial Group on
Climate Change, said New Zealand was still working towards
ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in mid-2002, in consultation with
sector groups and the wider public. It would be premature at this
stage to consider a revised approach.

"Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff will be in Washington
next week to meet senior members of the Bush Administration, many
of whom are closely involved with United States policy on climate
change," said Mr Hodgson. "He will be setting out New Zealand's
concerns very clearly and urging the United States to stay fully
involved with international attempts to develop an effective response
to climate change."

Mr Hodgson said he had personally made New Zealand's position
clear to the senior American delegate at a meeting of the climate
change 'Umbrella Group' of nations in Wellington last week. The
group, which includes both New Zealand and the United States, is an
informal network of nine developed countries that works on various
aspects of climate change negotiations.

"Climate change cannot be dealt with by ignoring it," Mr Hodgson
said. "The world needs the United States to engage with the
international effort to find an effective response. This is an issue of
global importance, which is why there has been no support to date for
the latest statements from the US, but strong expressions of concern.

"If US oil interests are currently in the ascendancy, many other sectors
of the US economy will be damaged by any moves to abandon the
Kyoto Protocol. The insurance industry, the agriculture and forestry
industries and any industry involved with innovative energy solutions
will be disadvantaged. It will be interesting to see whether
countervailing pressure emerges from those sectors."

Mr Hodgson is due to represent New Zealand at a gathering of key
climate change negotiating parties in New York in April. The meeting
is a preliminary to the resumption in Bonn in July of the World
Conference on Climate Change that ended without agreement at The
Hague last October.

Graeme Speden, press secretary: 04 471 9707 / 025 270 9055

Press Release
World Wide Fund for Nature - Pakistan
_________________________________________________________
Date: 30 March 2001

WWF – Pakistan flays US on withdrawing
from Kyoto Protocol

WWF - Pakistan strongly condemns President Bush's recent decision of going back on its commitment of cutting green house emissions under the Kyoto Protocol- believed to be causing global warming. In addition to heating the earth’s surface, climate change does a lot of other things as well. Changes in water vapour, clouds and ice cover, affect on plant species, rising levels of oceans, alteration in atmospheric and oceanic circulation can either reinforce or offset the original impact.

“How can President Bush ignore the fact that 5% of the world’s population in the US is contributing more than 25% of the globe’s carbon dioxide,” remarks the concerned Director Environmental Pollution, WWF – Pakistan, Hammad Naqi Khan. “Other industrialised nations should step forward to ratify this protocol to put pressure on the US administration,” he added. While appreciating the recent statements from the European Union, governments of Japan, Australia, and the UK he remarked, “ I wonder why Pakistani government is still silent on the issue?” In 1997 the Clinton administration, European Union member states and Japan signed the agreement on Climate Change in Kyoto, but it has not been ratified so far. However, the treaty will only come into effect when 55% of the industrialised nations have ratified it by 2002.

“The impacts are more serious for developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and India because of an unstable and underdeveloped infrastructure, which is quite weak to bear the hazards, created by climate change. The likelihood of additional warming, inundation of low-lying coastal areas and extreme weather patterns are of great concern”, said Hammad Naqi Khan.

· Available for interview on this subject: Hammad Naqi Khan, Director, Environmental Pollution Unit, WWF - Pakistan, Ferozepur Road, Lahore. Tel: 5882069, 5862360, 5869429, Fax: 5862358, Mobile: 0300 8466690
e-mail: hnaqi@wwf.org.pk

Japan to keep pressing U.S. on global warming

Japan will continue to urge the United States to ratify a 1997 treaty
designed to prevent global warming, even though Washington has announced
plans to withdraw from the landmark pact, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo
Fukuda said Thursday.

"We believe it is extremely important for the United States, the world's
largest emitter of carbon dioxide, to conclude the Kyoto Protocol," the top
government spokesman said. "What the Japanese government must do is continue
to call on the United States (to ratify the treaty), and keep up diplomatic
efforts to ensure the Kyoto Protocol will take effect."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told a Wednesday news briefing in
Washington that President George W. Bush has instructed his administration
to review the U.S. stance on the Kyoto Protocol.

The treaty, negotiated and signed in Kyoto, would require the world's
industrial countries to impose binding limits on emissions of heat-trapping
gases, which scientists believe are causing significant changes in the
Earth's climate.

Under the treaty, the U.S. would have to reduce its emissions of carbon
dioxide, methane and certain other pollutants by 7 percent from 1990 levels
by 2012.

The Japan Times: Mar. 30, 2001

Kyoto Protocol Is Not Dead!

Japan should take a leadership to entry into force Kyoto Protocol Now!

- Comments to the announcemnt on Pull Out of Global Warming Treaty
by The Bush administration -

30 March 2001
Mie Asaoka
President, KIKO Network, Japan

On 29th, Mr. Fleischer, White House spokesman, announced the US will pull
out of Kyoto Protocol, Global Warming Treaty.

The announcemnt is totally unacceptable
-Bush administration denied they are the World leader

Recognizing the impact of global warming, it is totally unacceptable
for all of the Japanese citizens and we believe it was a big mistake to the
US.
By ignoring the only international agreement, the US is objecting the
moral obligation which is crucial to solve the threat of Global Warming.
We reckon that new Bush administration is throwing away their leadership
in international community by claiming they, the world largest polluter,
can be a free-rider of world environment.

We strongly urge President Bush to recognize the seriousness of climate
change and withdraw their announcement. They should repent of American way
of selfish unilateralism.
We also urge Japan and the other governments in developed countries to
affect US to back to the reality of Kyoto negotiation.

o Japan should be a world leader to save Kyoto Protocol through
ratification

US officials incredibly misunderstand the voting for entry into force,
saying "the treaty cannot even possibly be in effect". However, already 33
countries ratified it within 55 nations' requirement. And even though the
US and coal exports depending Canada and Australia don't ratify, other
developed nations could cooperatively lead the Kyoto Protocol' entry into
force.
Thus EU and Japan could lead those ratification process, then we can
wait for the US to follow-up after the enforcement.

Regrettably by now, The Japanese government have avoided to state
that "we will ratify independently to the US" (queries by Mr. Tetsuro
Fukuyama, DPJ at Environmental Council of the House of Counselors on 22,
27 March). As the host country of Kyoto COP3 negotiation, Japan should
take the leadership with the EU by declaring the political will to ratify
independently to the US NOW, as well as urge the US back to the seat of
Kyoto negotiation.

Climate change cannot wait for us and there's no future in wait & see
tactics. It is now crucially important for Japan and other nations not to
follow the US and not to stop making domestic policies and measures for
the ratification.

We, Japanese NGOs will gather the vast majority of support voice to the
Kyoto Protocol in our grassroots Campaign.

TEL 03-3263-9210?FAX 03-3263-9463
E-Mail: kikotko@jca.apc.org
http://www.jca.apc.org/~kikonet/index-j.html

Forum disappointed with U.S refusal to sign Kyoto Protocol

30 MARCH 2001 (Pacnews) -- The Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Noel Levi is disappointed with the announcement by the United States not to support the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

“Forum Leaders at their summit last October in Kiribati reiterated their deep concerns about the adverse impact of human-induced climate change on all Pacific Islands, especially low lying atolls,” said Levi.

“The Leaders recognised that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol provided a significant first step forward, on the path of ensuring effective global action to combat climate change.”

“The Leaders also highlighted the importance of the early entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, preferably by 2002, and that its implementation will result in real and measurable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," Levi said.

“The announcement by the US not to support the Kyoto Protocol is disappointing, given its influential role. However, there is still room for all countries to continue working towards addressing the concerns we all share on climate change.”

The Secretary General said the Kyoto Protocol was one of a number of useful avenues to achieve these aims, adding that climate change ultimately affected everyone.

“It is very important that we see meaningful progress and effective measures by all countries, on the international and domestic fronts, to help counter the adverse impacts of climate change,” Levi said.

The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under which developed countries have agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to some aspects of climate change and sea-level rise. The Protocol enters into force if it is ratified by at least fifty-five countries, which must include the largest greenhouse gas emitters such as the United States…PNS (ENDS)

Sunday, New York Times -

Bush Angers Europe by Eroding Pact on Warming

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

FRANKFURT, March 31 - European leaders frequently bristle about
American behavior, but President Bush's abrupt decision this week
to abandon a treaty on global warming has provoked even more than
the usual level of anger and frustration.

"Irresponsible," "arrogant," even "sabotage" are just a few of the
charges that Europeans have leveled at Mr. Bush since he announced
his refusal to follow through on the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol.
And European Union representatives will take their case in favor of
the accord to Washington on Monday, though their arguments are not
expected to prevail.

The response is so intense in part because the decision has
aggravated a mixture of grudges that have gnawed at Europeans for
years.

They are angry that the United States appears oblivious to
widespread environmental concerns across most of Europe.

They are frustrated that the United States, by virtue of its size,
can undermine a treaty that was negotiated by more than 100
countries.

Most of all, they are depressed that there is not much they can do
about it.

The United States produces about 25 percent of the gases
associated with global warming, and its refusal to meet goals set
by Kyoto to reduce those emissions makes it difficult for
competitors to stick with their goals.

"To suggest scrapping Kyoto and making a new agreement with more
countries involved simply reflects a lack of understanding of
political realities," said Margot Wallström, Europe's commissioner
for environmental affairs. "We could lose years of work if we were
to start from scratch."

Ms. Wallström will lead the delegation that meets on Monday with
Christie Whitman, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The group is also expected to include Environment Minister Kjell
Larsson of Sweden, whose country currently holds the rotating
European Union presidency, and representatives of Belgium, which
takes over from the Swedes in July.

The meeting is part of a diplomatic push that is also supposed to
include visits to China, Russia, Iran and Japan to assess whether
it would be possible to carry through on the Kyoto treaty without
the United States.

Today, environment ministers from European Union countries
discussed the Bush decision at a previously scheduled meeting in
Sweden, where the reaction was one of indignation.

"Kyoto is still alive," said Mr. Larsson, who was host of the
meeting in Kiruna, 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle. "No country
has the right to declare Kyoto dead."

The anger at the United States is spread evenly across Europe.

Dominique Voynet, France's minister for the environment, called Mr.
Bush's decision "completely provocative and irresponsible" and
warned the United States against "continuing the work of sabotage"
if other countries decided to embrace the goals of the Kyoto
agreement on their own.

Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, called Mr. Bush's decision
"a brutal form of unilateralism." In London, The Independent
reported that "history will not judge George Bush kindly."

When Mr. Bush met with the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, in
Washington on Thursday, Kyoto formed a central disagreement. "We
will not do anything that harms our economy, because first things
first are the people who live in America," Mr. Bush said.

This kind of America-first sentiment prompted sharp criticism from
the European Union Commission president, Romano Prodi. "If one
wants to be a world leader, one must know how to look after the
entire earth and not only American industry," the former Italian
prime minister told La Repubblica newspaper.

But nobody has any illusions about changing American policy, and
the real question European leaders are asking is whether they can
or should press ahead without America.

"It is a catastrophe," said Gerd Billen, executive director of
Germany's biggest environmental group, Naturschutzbund Deutschland,
which has 350,000 members. "Everybody knows how hard it is to reach
an international agreement on environmental issues like this, and
this could destroy it."

Mr. Billen and other environmental leaders are pushing for a
boycott against American companies, particularly oil companies that
have extensive gas-station networks in Europe.

"It would be a citizens' action, and if it is done right, it could
really put pressure on the oil companies," said Alexander de Roo,
deputy chairman of the European Parliament's environmental
committee. "I don't think that begging will be very effective. I
think they will only listen to powerful arguments."

As in many other international issues, from the decision to send
peacekeeping forces to the Balkans to coordinating international
currency rates, Europeans know from experience that it is difficult
to accomplish anything without American collaboration.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, which was approved in 1997 after years
of negotiation, 37 other industrial countries agreed to reduce
their emissions of greenhouse gases by 2012 to 5.2 percent below
the levels in 1990.

But the United States is by far the biggest producer of greenhouse
gases, both per capita and in total. The average American consumes
twice as much energy as the average European, and the emission of
greenhouse gases is also about twice as high per capita in the
United States as in Europe.

If European countries press ahead with their own goal, European
companies run the risk of incurring higher expenses while American
companies benefit from easier rules.

Ms. Wallström, the environmental commissioner, noted at a news
conference in Brussels on Thursday that Europe did not want to end
up rewarding the United States for its refusal to go along.

But abandoning the goals is politically treacherous, because they
enjoy strong popular support in most countries. Despite the anger
that many Europeans feel toward high gasoline taxes, support for
environmental regulations remains much stronger than in the United
States.

In the months leading up the Kyoto meetings in 1997, the European
Union proposed a remarkably ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse
emissions to 15 percent below the levels of 1990.

Reflecting the enormous difference in the political and social
climates in the United States and Europe, European business groups
merely tried to moderate those goals and many industrial
associations committed themselves to steep reductions in emissions
as a way to escape direct government regulation.

Many European environmental leaders argue that Europe needs to
press ahead.

"If 55 countries representing 55 percent of worldwide CO2
emissions ratify the Kyoto protocol, then it begins to function,"
Mr. de Roo said.

On a broader level, many Europeans are convinced that Mr. Bush is
leading the United States into greater isolation. Many commentators
seized upon Mr. Bush's comment last week that he would not do
anything to weaken the American economy. The announcement was
front-page news across Europe, and it quickly prompted a storm of
criticism.

"We are back to Ronald Reagan and America First," said Noel Mamer,
a leader of the French Green party and a member of Parliament. "I
think the decision is completely mad, and it is a reason for more
isolation for America."

But even some of the fiercest European critics admit that they
have little leverage. In Brussels, European leaders carefully
avoided making any threats and said they merely planned to
"explain" their position to the Bush administration.

"The United States will probably come out of this crisis of
trans-Atlantic relations as the winner," said Libération, the
left-leaning French newspaper. But, it added, "Those who spew gases
run the risk of reaping, long before the climate has heated up, an
explosive hostility in public opinion and diplomatic isolation."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/world/01GERM.html?ex=987153226&ei=1&en=331fadbae2888c75

Russia takes shot at Washington over Kyoto pact

RUSSIA: April 2, 2001

MOSCOW - Russia fired a shot at Washington on Saturday for rejecting the 1997 Kyoto pact, condemning "one-sided" action over the treaty aimed at curbing global warming.

The foreign ministry, in its first comment on the rejection of the treaty by President George W. Bush, said in a statement that careful work was needed to get a treaty to satisfy all.

"Attaining this goal cannot come from one-sided steps, but by the continuation of careful and constructive work to find solutions which would in full measure suit all the participants in the framework convention on climate change," it said.

"We support a successful conclusion to the negotiating process on working out mechanisms for the realisation of the Kyoto protocol and consider that they should have an all-embracing character," it added.

The European Union has criticised Bush for rejecting the Kyoto treaty, which calls for targeted cuts of carbon dioxide emissions to reduce the risk of global warming.

But Canada has said the rigid European stance forced Bush to reject the treaty, which calls on industrialised nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by on average 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Bush said the pact was not in U.S. interests.

Russia is among the world's top polluters after the United States, which is the biggest producer of man-made carbon dioxide emissions.

Russia had hoped to benefit from allowances in the Kyoto pact for countries which meet emission targets to sell credits to nations that do not. Russia's emissions have fallen sharply amid economic collapse since the end of communism.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

SOUTH AFRICA: MINISTER RAPS INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS" OVER
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
BBC Monitoring Service/Financial Times
Mar 29, 2001
Internet:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?id=010329006600&
query=%22climate+change%22

Text of report by South African news agency SAPA web site

Parliament, 29 March: Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa
used the occasion of a debate in the National Assembly on the
South African Weather Service Bill to sound a strong warning on
global warming and its disastrous consequences. He also strongly
criticized industrialized nations for their failure to "get their
act together" on the reduction or control of greenhouse gas
emissions. "A major, major matter of concern...[ellipsis as
received] is the breakdown in the developed world on the question
of climate change. "For many years the world has been trying to do
something about reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, which
gave the greenhouse effect around the globe."

The biggest polluters were the United States, followed by Europe
and Japan. Yet the developed world was unable to agree on a
programme towards, if not just reducing, at least controlling the
emission of the greenhouse gases which caused global warming,
Moosa said. Negotiations on this matter had broken down. "To those
of us who are not a part of the polluting globe, this is a matter
of grave concern. "We need to bring the big polluters of the world
to book, because they are not just polluting their own countries,
but the atmosphere as a whole." In a few decades, the consequences
- particularly for the smaller island nations - would be
disastrous.

"Some of these could be completely flooded over within a few
decades. I would like to register our own deep concerns on this
matter, and I think that I can say with confidence that the South
African government urges the developed nations to get their act
together," Moosa said. The House unanimously passed the South
African Weather Service Bill, which aims to transform the current
weather bureau into an agency which will charge for its services.
"Agentization of the weather service provides us with the unique
opportunity to generate revenue to sustain its operation beyond
what the public purse can fund," Moosa told members. There was
scope for implementing a sophisticated cost recovery operation in
certain areas - such as the aviation industry - and for market-
related business activities in others. "(It) also provides us with
an opportunity to prioritize the transformation of the racial and
gender human resources composition," he said.

Top management of the current weather bureau is understood to be
100 per cent male, 80 per cent of whom are white. The bill will
now be referred to the National Council of Provinces for
concurrence.

Source: SAPA news agency web site, Johannesburg, in English 1439
gmt 29 Mar 01

PRESS RELEASE
29 March 2001

CEC URGES STRONG EU RESPONSE TO AMERICAN KYOTO DECISION

Keith Jenkins, the Director of the Conference of European Churches' Church and Society Commission has written to Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Lena Hjelm-Wallén urging a strong response by the European Union to the Bush administration's decision not to implement the Kyoto Treaty on greenhouse gas emissions which, he says, "puts the narrowest national interest before global responsibility". Ms. Hjelm-Wallén is responsible for co-ordinating the Swedish government's role as the President of the Council of Ministers of the European Union during the current six months.

The letter urges "that the European Union and its Member States condemn the short-sighted approach of the United States government, reaffirm their common commitment to the aims of the Kyoto Treaty, maintain their own commitment to reducing emissions and take every step possible to convince the United States government that it is in the long-term interests of all, including the people of the United States, to control emissions before they do irreparable damage to the earth".

Keith Jenkins reminded the Deputy Prime Minister that the question of climate change and the resumption of negotiations had been raised in the meeting which she held with representatives of Swedish and European churches in November 2000. The participants in that meeting had been encouraged by the firm line taken by the then incoming Swedish Presidency. Mr Jenkins indicated that the churches believed that the Kyoto Treaty was "the best practical hope of undertaking a shared and proportionate responsibility for the effects of global warming". He added that "a particular burden in this respect must rest on the most industrialised and wealthiest nations".

Looking ahead to the Göteborg meeting of the European Council at the end of the Presidency in June 2001, he suggests that the credibility of the strategy on sustainable development to be adopted at that meeting "must in part depend on firm action on climate change and the building of alliances for effective action between the European Union and other concerned states".

For further information please contact Keith Jenkins on + 32 2 234 6838 or +32 496 280 766

WCC encourages countries to continue working towards the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol despite its rejection by the Bush administration

World Council of Churches Press Release 30th March 2001

"The rejection of the Kyoto Protocol by the Bush administration is a betrayal of their responsibilities as global citizens", said Dr David Hallman, the World Council of Churches (WCC) climate change programme coordinator, today in a first reaction to the decision of the US government to reject an international treaty designed to combat global warming. The United States, with 4% of the world's population, emits 25% of the global emissions that are leading to climate change.

The WCC Central Committee, meeting in Potsdam, 29 January-6 February 2001, reaffirmed its position that "industrialised countries bear the major moral responsibility for precipitating climate change and therefore must exercise leadership that results in real action to reduce the causes".

Hallman, a member of the United Church of Canada, noted that there is increasing evidence that vulnerable peoples, especially in the poorer countries, are already suffering from the impacts of human?induced climate change. He pointed to the past two years of devastating floods in Mozambique, rising sea levels in the Pacific Islands, and persistent years of drought in Africa.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientific body which advises the UN, reported earlier this year that "there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities”.

Hallman stated that the climate change issue will continue regardless of the recent rejection: “If the US walks away from the Kyoto Protocol, it just means that another treaty with even more ambitious targets will have to be negotiated in the future as evidence of the devastating impacts of climate change mounts. We encourage all other countries to continue working towards the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol regardless of the US action.”

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter, Media Relations Officer Tel: (+41.22) 791.61.53 Mobile: (+41) 79.284.52.12

150 rte de Ferney PO Box 2100 1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland
Fax: (+41 22) 798 1346; E-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org; Web: www.wcc-coe.org

Religious Leaders' Statement on Climate Change

March 29, 2001

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We reach out as senior leaders of major American faith communities eager to discuss with you a challenge of paramount religious significance: the condition of God's creation at the hands of God's children, the climate of planet Earth as being altered by the activity of the Earth's people.

Many of us have carefully followed the inquiry into climate change and global warming. While we interact with them regularly, we are not scientists, policy-makers, leaders within the economic sector, or architects of global treaties. We do not comment on complex data or technological responses. Nor do we wish to encourage narrow partisanship about an issue which so clearly affects the well-being of all humankind.

We believe there is a point, however, at which scientific consensus is sufficiently established to require consideration of long-standing religious and moral principles of prudence and precaution. If credible evidence exists to indicate our present course could threaten the quality of life for God's creation and God's children, this becomes an issue of paramount moral concern.

We are persuaded that this point of prudence is now upon us. Projected impacts of global warming on the most poor and vulnerable are ethically unacceptable. Domestic and international action is urgently required. The United States has a moral responsibility to lead the world's nations and to serve its people. In recent days, we have been reading reports of what the administration is not prepared to do to address climate change. We are eager to learn what our government will enact here: in a credible, binding program to honor international commitments, successfully prevent destructive impacts on humankind and habitat, and embody equity.

Our scriptures are plain about the religious dimension of this challenge. When it is all creation on Earth that is being affected, we freshly appreciate the principle that, "The Earth is the Lord's." (Ps.24:1) Our climate and seasons are God's handicraft, "Yours is the day. Yours is also the night. You made summer and winter." (Ps. 74:16-17) All life is embraced by God's covenant and with particular instructions regarding our children and children's children. "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations." (Gen. 9:12)

Because human purpose in the greater web of life is a central issue here, this inquiry is expanding beyond the laboratories of science and the halls of diplomacy to the pulpits and pews of the American heartland. We believe you should be aware that many of our denominations have passed resolutions on climate change and that local activity is growing in churches and synagogues across a broad spectrum of religious life. We can confirm what EPA Administrator Whitman reported to you on March 6th: "For the first time, the world's religious communities have started to engage in the issue." And while there are diverse perspectives on policy, many still evolving, it is our view that this activity will grow exponentially, from genuine religious and moral conviction.

We in the faith community are in a process of open dialogue and inquiry here. We are heartened by your early commitment to civil, moderate, bipartisan dialogue and, particularly, by your willingness to hear the voice of the faith community. We hope you will follow this path on the issue of climate change. We are eager to meet with you for further reflection, perhaps in a small gathering in June.

Meanwhile, we believe an historic challenge is before us all here, foreseen by our scriptures, and freshly vivid in these signs of the times, "I have set before you life or death, blessings or curse. Choose life, therefore, that you and your descendants may live." (Dt. 30:19)

Signatories:

Ismar Schorsch
Chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary

Dr. Bob Edgar
General Secretary
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

The Reverend Clifton Kirkpatrick
Stated Clerk
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Bishop Melvin G. Talbert
Senior Ecumenical Officer, United Methodist Church

The Reverend Richard L. Hamm
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Bishop McKinley Young
Bishop of the Tenth Episcopal District
African Methodist Episcopal Church

Letter from Federation of Transport and Environment
http://www.t-e.nu/

Dear President Bush

We, the Members, Board and Staff of the European Federation for Transport
and Environment*, meeting at our Annual General Assembly in Brussels, are
writing to express our dismay at your recent pronouncements on US climate
change policy. We are particularly astonished that the US appears to be
seeking to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change, citing costs as a major reason for this action.

We consider this proposal irresponsible, immoral and extraordinarily
short-sighted. The USA is the wealthiest nation in the world, and also
generates one quarter of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. No
other country therefore has as great a responsibility for the dramatic
ecological consequences which now threaten all parts of the globe, nor as
great a capacity to reduce these threats. We would also remind you that,
since the USA signed the Protocol, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change has greatly increased its estimates of the likely scale and impact
of
global warming, and with growing certainty as to the expected effects of
anthropogenic climate change.

US inaction is doubly unaccountable. On the one hand, additional jobs and
greater economic efficiency would result from domestic action on energy
efficiency in the US. On the other, the USA like other countries will
suffer
severe disruption and economic losses through increased incidents of
drought, flooding, and other extreme weather events if climate change is
not
tackled as a matter of urgency.

T&E therefore denounces in the strongest possible terms the course of
action which you appear to have decided upon. We urge all responsible
institutions, corporations, the scientific community and all concerned citizens of the
US to press the US administration to reverse its current course of action,
and to face up to its environmental responsibilities as the most powerful
nation on earth.

Signed on behalf of T&E
Beatrice Schell
Director
Brussels, 31 March 2001

1 April 2001

BRAZILIAN POSITION ON THE DEADLOCK IN THE INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS ON
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

"PREVAILING SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE CONFIRMS THAT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN ESSENTIAL, DANGEROUS ISSUE FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS OF ALL NATIONS.

ADDRESSING THIS MAJOR CHALLENGE WILL REQUIRE INCREASING ATTENTION BY ALL WORLD LEADERS.

IN THE OPINION OF BRAZIL, THE MAIN ISSUE NOW IS KEEPING THE
NEGOTIATING PROCESS UNDER THE FRAMEWORK OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, AND ITS KYOTO PROTOCOL.

SUCH PROCESS MUST SOLVE THE THORNY PROBLEM OF A FAIR SHARING OF THE BURDEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE REQUIRED CHANGES IN THE ENERGY SECTOR AND OTHERS.

THE FAIR SHARING OF THIS BURDEN MUST BE BASED ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH COUNTRY IN PRODUCING GLOBAL WARMING.

THIS PRINCIPLE OF A COMMON BUT DIFFERENTIATED RESPONSIBILITY IS ENSHRINED IN THE CLIMATE CHANGE CONVENTION, RATIFIED BY ESSENTIALLY ALL GOVERNMENTS.

THE PROBLEM OF CLIMATE CHANGE IS GLOBAL, AND CAN ONLY BE ADDRESSED IN A GLOBAL SYSTEM. INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS MUST CONTINUE UNDER THE CONVENTION. EVERY EFFORT MUST BE MADE TO PRESERVE ITS KYOTO PROTOCOL, AS THE BASIS FOR PROGRESS IN THIS AREA.

WE ARE WILLING TO PERSERVERE IN THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH ALL OTHER COUNTRIES, WITH A VIEW TO OVERCOMING THE PRESENT DIFFICULTIES AND TO ACHIEVE THE COMMON GOAL OF ENSURING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

Asia environment ministers urge U.S. to stay with accord
The Japan Times: Apr. 10, 2001
Environment ministers from Japan, China and South Korea have urged the
United States to stay within the framework of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and
strive to ratify the pact on curbing global warming.

In a joint communique issued Sunday after their two-day meeting in Tokyo,
the ministers said they "sincerely hope that the U.S. government will
actively work with all the parties" for a successful outcome to the U.N.
climate-change conference and the implementation of the Kyoto accord.

The statement by Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, China's State
Environmental Protection Administration Minister Xie Zhenhua and South
Korean Environment Minister Kim Myung Ja follows U.S. President George W.
Bush's recent decision to pull out of the Kyoto pact.

The 1997 Kyoto treaty obliges industrialized countries to cut greenhouse gas
emissions by an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels between 2008 and
2012 to avoid disastrous global weather changes.

The trio agreed the sixth Conference of Parties (COP6) to the U.N. Framework
Convention on Climate Change, scheduled to resume in Bonn in July, is "vital
for bringing the Kyoto Protocol into force as early as possible."

Talks at the previous COP6 round in The Hague in November collapsed when a
dispute arose over the role of forest absorption in cutting gas emissions.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Friday said Washington
will propose by July, in time for COP6, an alternative plan to the Kyoto
Protocol by seeking the participation of developing countries including
India and China as well as the industrial nations.

Speaking to the press after the Tokyo meeting, Xie reiterated China's stance
that responsibilities differ between industrialized and developing countries
in achieving reductions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Aside from global warming, the three ministers agreed to cooperate over
ecological conservation in northwest China, which is suffering from severe
desertification, and to promote systematic studies of sandstorms which have
become an increasing problem in the northeast Asian region.

The ministers also reaffirmed their cooperation in dealing with such areas
as acid rain, air pollution, water management, marine environment protection
and wetland conservation.

The tripartite annual talks were the third of their kind. Next year's
meeting will be held in South Korea, Xie said.

Letter from Swiss President to Bush
The President of the United States of America
Mr. George W. Bush
Washington D.C.

2 April 2001

Dear Mr President

I have taken note with concern of your recently expressed intention to reconsider the approach of the United States of America in tackling the threat posed by the accelerating climate change, and in particular of your plan to abandon the support of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.

As has been clearly shown by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its recently published Third Assessment Report, climate change poses a real risk for the well being of our planet. Mitigation efforts are needed and the time at our disposal to effect real changes is limited.

Switzerland believes, that the common efforts of the international community within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol are the appropriate way to address this challenge at the global level.

To that end, we have, over the last decade, closely worked together with many countries, notably the United States of America. The conclusion of the UN Framework Convention on climate Control and the Kyoto Protocol reflect the broad international consensus to find common and equitable solutions. While acknowledging the fact that these legal instruments are only a first, albeit significant step to cope with the threat of global warming, they do take into account the multifaceted interests of the international community, including economic interests and the potential of technological developments to reduce the emission of green house gases. We also believe that these new technologies offer opportunities for our economies, not only to contribute to the mitigation of the climate threat but also render them more efficient and competitive.

To grasp these opportunities, joint efforts will be necessary to be undertaken in the international negotiations. To this end, the successful conclusion of the Kyoto process will provide an important step forward. The challenges remaining are manifold in order to ascertain a sustainable future for the world today and for generations to come. To meet these challenges, our common international effort needs to continue. In this regard, I do hope that your will reconsider your position and that the United States of America will continue its cooperation within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, to which my country remains fully committed.

with kind regards Moritz Leuenberger

THE U.S. LACKS POLITICAL WILL TO RATIFY THE KYOTO PROTOCOL

By: Grace Akumu

President George Bush of the U.S. recently said that his government will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Change Convention because of economic reasons. However, apart from being economically and technologically the most powerful country on earth today, the U.S. is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases (ghgs) causing global warming on a per capita basis. Historically and presently, they have spewed into the atmosphere, nearly two thirds of those dangerous gases. They are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. Meanwhile, the U.S. has signed and ratified the Climate Change Convention whereby it agreed along with other industrialised countries to take the lead in combating climate change. Reneging on this commitment is dangerous to the world because the severity and frequency of the impacts of climate change are on the increase and the social and economic costs to developing countries are becoming unbearable.

A number of developing countries are currently experiencing either severe droughts or flooding as a result of the La-Nina and El-Nino phenomena, the frequency and intensity of which, has challenged even some viable economies on the continent. It is still fresh in our memories the energy crisis that Kenya has just gone through occasioned among others by a prolonged and severe drought. 80 per cent of Kenya's energy is hydro-generated. We have also not forgotten the El-Nino floods of 1997/98 and their devastating impacts on our infrastructure, health, agriculture, food security, etc. Climate change will increase our vulnerability to some of these natural phenomena yet we do not have adequate resources for adaptation. We shall experience more frequent and severe famines, dislocation and migration of rural populations, increase in slums, inadequate supply of clean water and sanitation, pollution of rivers and coastal zones. Climate change will also enhance sea-level rise threatening the livelihood and infrastructure along the coastal regions. Political disputes, e.g. civil strife, may increase as a result of conflicts over scarce shared water resources, especially for livestock grazing. Diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid, dysentry, pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, menigitis, conjuctivitis, menigitis, etc, associated with dust and drought conditions will be on the increase. Our national development planners as well as medical institutions should be alert. As climate change will increase, so will desertification and hence the rise of poverty in continents such as Africa. The above are just some examples of how continents such as Africa may be affected by climate change. The biggest challenge for African governments will be adaptation to these impacts. Do we have the financial, human and technological resources?

The Climate Change Convention is clear with regard to the implementation of commitments contained therein. It states that developed countries "shall assist developing countries that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting costs of adaptation to those adverse effects. It also states that developed countries shall provide new and additional financial and technological resources to developing countries to implement the Convention". Developing countries will still have to emit in order to develop. Industrialised countries have reached their current levels of development by emiting greenhouse gases.

What the U.S. government needs to know is that damages associated with climate change are on the increase. Sooner or later, this may become a security issue. It is therefore prudent for the U.S. to act now by joining the rest of the international community to try to
solve the climate change problem. Staying out of the Kyoto Protocol which the U.S. helped to negotiate is not going to help but only aggravate the problem at hand. It is also not in good faith, for the U.S. to turn around and claim that it will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol unless developing countries are brought on board. The Convention states that developing countries are still allowed to emit in order to develop and that economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries. It also states that industrialised countries should “stabilise their ghg emissions at a level that will prevent dangerous interference with the climate system and such levels should be achieved with a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner”.

Threatening to walk out of the Kyoto Protocol under the pretext that it will hurt the U.S. economy therefore smacks of a superpower wanting to walk away out of its leadership responsibilities and role model positions. The U.S. should take the lead to combat climate change as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. It has the wherewithal to combat climate change. It is endowed with financial, human and technological resources - all what it takes to combat climate change. The only thing America lacks is political will to take action. However, we hope the U.S. will realise that it is cheaper to take action now than later as even some of the biggest insurance companies such as Suisse-re, Munich-re and Llyods, have predicted that damage costs related to climate change will soon exceed the world's GDP and the risks will also rise beyond the capacity of the insurance industry and even governments to absorb.

The US government should therefore re-engage itself immediately in the climate negotiations as the survival of some cultures and civilisations, especially those in small islands, is threatened with extinction.

______________________________
The contributor is the Executive Director,
Climate Network Africa
P. O. Box 76479
NAIROBI

Tel: 56.40.40
Fax: 57.37.37
Email: cna@lion.meteo.go.ke

European Council, Stockholm, 23-4 March 2001 ANNEX II (of the Presidency Conclusions) EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECLARATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE The European Council, recognising climate change as a global threat to future well-being and economic progress, recalls the necessity of efficient international action to reduce emissions. It reaffirms its strong commitment to the Kyoto Protocol as the basis for such action and expresses its deep concern at the fact that this Protocol is being called into question. The European Council urges all its negotiation partners to engage constructively in reaching agreement on modalities for implementing the Kyoto Protocol and to facilitate a successful outcome of the resumed COP-6, which will create the conditions for ratification and entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol by 2002.

Finnish CO2 emissions fall in 2000 ENDS Daily - 21/03/01 ------------------------- Finnish carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions amounted to 54m tonnes in 2000, Statistics Finland revealed on Monday. The total is 3m tonnes down on 1999 levels and means emissions are currently virtually the same as they were in 1990, the baseline year of the UN Kyoto protocol. Under the EU's burden sharing arrangement, this is also Finland's target level for emissions of six gases, including CO2, in the period 2008-12.

The fall in emissions in 2000 is linked to an overall reduction in primary energy consumption of 1.6%, in spite of economic growth of 5.7%. The present draft for the government's climate strategy nevertheless assumes that total energy consumption will be driven up by economic growth, requiring investment in increased electricity generating capacity. A fifth nuclear power station and increased imports of natural gas are the main options under consideration (ENDS Daily 9 February). Electricity consumption was about 2% higher in 2000 than in 1999.

These trends suggest that it may not be easy for Finland to maintain its current emissions freeze. In addition, Leena Timonen of Statistics Finland told ENDS Daily, "The year 2000 was quite exceptional due to unusually mild weather and high imports of cheap hydroelectricity from Norway and Sweden, so conditions were in these respects similar to the Kyoto benchmark year of 1990."

Follow-up: Statistics Finland (http://www.stat.fi), tel: +358 9 17341. See also Finnish national greenhouse gas inventory (http://www.vyh.fi/eng/environ/state/air/emis/ghg/ghg.htm). -------------------------

Sweden restarts EU energy tax talks ENDS Daily - 19/03/01 ------------------------- The prospects for agreement on long-stalled EU-wide energy tax rules have improved after government officials held talks on the plan last week for the first time in two years. Swedish presidency officials say they are now "very optimistic" that the Commission's proposal can be agreed, though the question of how high minimum tax rates should be set has not yet been broached.

The European Commission released its "Monti proposal" for minimum excise duty rates on various energy products in 1997, but discussions have long been frozen, chiefly due to staunch opposition from Spain. As the importance of cutting fossil fuel emissions to meet EU climate commitments has grown, however, calls to reach a deal on the tax have multiplied. In the absence of agreement of a full directive, some European commissioners have urged sub-EU groups member states to go it alone (ENDS Daily 6 February).

Friday's meeting, however, has revealed a stronger likelihood of unanimous EU action. "We have 15 member states willing to discuss the structure of a tax. We had a positive reaction from all of them. That is an improvement," a Swedish official told ENDS Daily today. No agreement was reached on specific details, however, she said.

The meeting was limited to considering the structure of the tax, with discussions focusing on the definition of energy-intensive industries and the role of electricity taxes in a rapidly liberalising market. Tax rates were not discussed. "Some member states have been very opposed to the minimum rates proposed [by the Commission]...the only possible approach was to leave the rates behind for the time being," the official said.

The meeting follows an apparent softening in the Spanish line on the energy tax. "What Spain has said is that...it would be acceptable for us to begin discussing this directive provided other measures were contemplated that would guarantee the functioning of the internal market in electricity," Spanish economy minister Rodrigo Rato told Reuters news agency at a finance ministers' meeting last week.

The Swedish official said a formal agreement was not expected under its presidency, but that ministers would discuss progress in early June. Belgium, which takes over the EU presidency in July, is working closely with Sweden on the new talks and is expected to continue the push for an early accord.

Follow-up: Swedish presidency of the EU (http://www.eu2001.se/eu2001/main/default.asp?3195036).

------------------------- Danish CO2 emissions fall again in 2000 ENDS Daily - 16/03/01 ------------------------- Danish carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell for the fourth year in succession in 2000, according to national energy agency figures released on Wednesday. The agency predicted that Denmark would now hit its ambitious national target of a 20% emissions cut from 1988 levels by 2005. Previously it forecast that the objective would be missed by up to four percentage points (ENDS Daily 21 April 1999).

The figures also suggest that Denmark should have little difficulty meeting its commitment under the UN Kyoto protocol. This requires emissions of CO2 and five other gases to be reduced by 21% between 1990 and 2008-12. A caveat is that Danish CO2 emissions were lower in 1990 than 1998, making it a tougher baseline year from which to make further cuts.

In parallel to the cut in CO2, 2000 data confirmed a similar downwards trend in national energy consumption, the agency reported. Even after adjusting for warmer temperatures in 2000 than in 1999 and other one-off factors, consumption still fell by 0.7%, it said,.

Follow-up: energy statistics 2000 (http://www.ens.dk/statistik/2000/forlb_stat.htm).

Big CO2 cut seen for EU housing and services ENDS Daily - 16/03/01 ------------------------- The EU could cut greenhouse gas emissions from its households and service industries by some 30% from 1990 levels by 2010, according to a new study ordered by European Commission's environment directorate. It also reveals that half to two-thirds of the reduction could be achieved at no cost. Most of the remaining reductions potential could be achieved by measures costing less than euros 50 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq).

The study estimates EU household and services emissions at 1,184m tonnes of CO2-eq in the Kyoto protocol baseline year of 1990. It suggests that this figure could rise without specific initiatives to reverse the trend, but that with actions a 2010 emissions level of 837m tonnes of CO2-eq is achievable.

Key measures to achieve the full reduction potential, says the study, are improving cooling systems and energy performance in buildings. Further indirect savings can be achieved through changes in the electricity supply system, it suggests.

The study is part of a series advising on policy choices for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the EU economy at least cost, and has been published alongside a second report focusing on emissions from the extraction, transport and distribution of fossil fuels.

This concludes that methane (CH4) is the most important greenhouse gas for the sector. Even without abatement measures, it predicts, emissions are expected to fall from 95m tonnes CO2-eq. in 1990, to 61m tonnes in 2010, due to a projected fall in EU coal production.

It adds, however, that further cuts in methane emissions with a global warming potential of 34m tonnes of CO2-eq could be achieved by 2010 by minimising fugitive emissions and release of ventilation air from deep coal mining. As with the first study, estimated costs for this reduction are up to euros 50 per tonne of CO-eq.

Follow-up: Both studies are posted here (http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/enveco/climate_change/sectoral_targets.htm).

Bush Backs off from CO2 emissions reductions Text of Bush's letter to Senators Greenpeace Press release BBC report CNE press release Friends of the Earth Press Release WWF Press release Swedish Presidency reaction German Environment Ministry reaction Australian reaction Klaus Toepfer, Director UNEP Michael Zammit Cutajar, UNFCCC, Secretariat Letter from Swedish Prime Minister, Gorran Persson and President of the EU Commission, Romano Prodi New Scientist Editorial Time Magazine Japanese response French response European Parliament Greens - press release European Greens Press release in French

13th March 2001, WASHINGTON (AP) -- Backing off a campaign pledge, President Bush is telling Congress he will not regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

The decision, outlined in a letter being sent to a Republican senator Tuesday, was a blow to conservationists who see curbing emissions of such ``greenhouse gases'' as key to reducing global warming.

The letter cites skyrocketing energy costs, particularly in the West, as one reason for Bush's about-face, according to GOP sources in Congress and the administration who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bush promised in the campaign to treat carbon dioxide emissions as pollutants, and Christie Whitman, his Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said last month that the administration was strongly considering such regulations.

Vice President Dick Cheney told a weekly policy gathering with senators that the administration was preparing a letter that would say carbon dioxide was not a pollutant, said one official on Capitol Hill. The letter was being sent to Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., late Tuesday, said an administration official briefed on the letter.

Bush pledged during his presidential campaign to require electric utilities to ``reduce emissions and significantly improve air quality.'' The legislation Bush proposed would have established ``mandatory reduction targets for emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide.''

The letter to Hagel said Bush is committed to a balanced energy policy that improves air quality by curbing nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury but that Bush no longer believes the government should impose mandatory emissions caps on carbon dioxide.

Explaining the shift, Bush noted that the Clean Air Act does not include carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Bush aides said they did not realize there was a contradiction when the president's energy policy was released during the campaign.

The White House also is citing a December study by the Department of Energy that said regulating carbon dioxide would lead to higher electricity prices, particularly in the hard-hit West.

Bush's energy task force, chaired by Cheney, is trying to develop a national energy policy.

Carbon dioxide is emitted whenever fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas are burned. It also is found in everyday products such as cola and is emitted when people breathe.

Bush has argued that the nation's energy woes can largely be addressed by tapping domestic supplies of coal and natural gas.

The Bush administration has been lobbied aggressively by energy industry officials who vehemently oppose regulating carbon dioxide. They contend it does not lead to global warming.

In the campaign, Bush said he would move to ``phase in the reductions'' of all four products ``over a reasonable time period.'' Cheney said the campaign position was in error.

He told senators that Whitman was being ``a good soldier'' in repeating the campaign pledge.

Whitman said last month that Bush recognizes the importance of the challenges posed by climate change, a subject she said has been discussed as part of the administration's emerging energy plan.

``There's no question but that global warming is a real phenomenon, that it is occurring,'' Whitman said after a Senate hearing on other environmental issues.

Bush pledged in the letter to continue seeking ways to reduce global warming through market incentives and other techniques.

As a possible response to global warming, Whitman raised the possibility of the administration supporting legislation that would for the first time regulate carbon emissions.

Text of March 13, 2001 Letter from the President to

Senators Hagel, Helms, Craig, and Roberts

Thank you for your letter of March 6, 2001, asking for the Administration's views on global climate change, in particular the Kyoto Protocol and efforts to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. My Administration takes the issue of global climate change very seriously.

As you know, I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, From compliance, and would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy. The Senate's vote, 95-0, shows that there is a clear consensus that the Kyoto Protocol is an unfair and ineffective means of addressing global climate change concerns.

As you also know, I support a comprehensive and balanced national energy policy that takes into account the importance of improving air quality. Consistent with this balanced approach, I intend to work with the Congress on a multipollutant strategy to require power plants to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. Any such strategy would include phasing in reductions over a reasonable period of time, providing regulatory certainty, and offering market-based incentives to help industry meet the targets. I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act.

A recently released Department of Energy Report, "Analysis of Strategies for Reducing Multiple Emissions from Power Plants," concluded that including caps on carbon dioxide emissions as part of a multiple emissions strategy would lead to an even more dramatic shift from coal to natural gas for electric power generation and significantly higher electricity prices compared to scenarios in which only sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides were reduced.

This is important new information that warrants a reevaluation, especially at a time of rising energy prices and a serious energy shortage. Coal generates more than half of America's electricity supply. At a time when California has already experienced energy shortages, and other Western states are worried about price and availability of energy this summer, we must be very careful not to take actions that could harm consumers. This is especially true given the incomplete state of scientific knowledge of the causes of, and solutions to, global climate change and the lack of commercially available technologies for removing and storing carbon dioxide.

Consistent with these concerns, we will continue to fully examine global climate change issues - including the science, technologies, market-based systems, and innovative options for addressing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. I am very optimistic that, with the proper focus and working with our friends and allies, we will be able to develop technologies, market incentives, and other creative ways to address global climate change.

I look forward to working with you and others to address global climate change issues in the context of a national energy policy that protects our environment, consumers, and economy.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

US about-face on climate change challenges EU to lead Climate Network Europe Brussels, 14 March 2001

President George Bush of the United States reversed a campaign position on Tuesday, stating that he would not support controlling carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Just a week ago, US Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Whitman reiterated that the Bush Administration considers climate change to be one of the greatest environmental threats we face, and that a policy limiting CO2 emissions from power plants was one way of getting results. However, in a letter dated 13 March to several US senators, President Bush backed away from this view, withdrawing support for CO2 controls, stating that he opposes the Kyoto Protocol, and calling the science of climate change into question.

CNE director Karla Schoeters reacted, saying "This policy reversal is flat out irresponsible. Just weeks ago the IPCC released a summary of its findings on the science of climate change, stating they're more certain than ever that we're heading for serious impacts due to our emissions of greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol is the vehicle we have for coordinating international action in response, one that all nations, the US included, have worked hard on for years. Rejecting Kyoto and doubting the science in one statement is just sticking your head in the sand, and reveals George Bush's true colours."

"Bush's statement is extremely cynical-he claims to be concerned about climate change, while undermining not only the international process, but the first serious attempt at the national level to take on CO2 emissions," said CNE energy specialist Jason Anderson. "In trying to justify boosting energy production and ignoring CO2 emissions, President Bush refers to the electricity crisis in California, where the real culprit is mishandled market restructuring, not higher demand. He has also called for opening up the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum exploration, threatening one of the most wild places in the country and flying in the face of public opinion. This kind of attitude doesn't bode well for our environment."

Although negotiations at the last round of UN talks on climate change in the Hague broke down, the session will resume 16-27 July. "The EU will have to take on a more active leadership role in the face of a US administration that's turning its back on years of negotiations. Also, developing nations, where climate impacts will be hardest felt, and Northern countries like Japan, which use energy efficiently, will likely recognise that the US is proving not to be a credible partner in the fight against climate change," said Schoeters.

Jason Anderson Climate Network Europe 44 Rue du Taciturne 1000 Brussels, Belgium tel: +32 (0)2 231 0180 fax: +32 (0)2 230 5713

Kyoto Protocol may have to be ratified without US, German Ministry says GERMANY: March 15, 2001 LEIPZIG -

Countries committed to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in 2002 may have to proceed without the U.S. if Washington continues to stall progress on global carbon dioxide emissions reduction, the German Environment Ministry said late on Monday. "Maybe it will be necessary to ratify the Protocol without the U.S. and to instead pave the way for them to join later," Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, director general at the environment ministry told Reuters at a conference in Leipzig. Talks between the European Union and the United States on implementing the agreement were suspended in November because of intractable differences between the two sides. One sticking point is the United States wants to use its forests as "sinks" to soak up pollution to meet its emissions reduction targets. "One alternative would be to accept their requirement for sinks on a short-term basis so they can ratify by the next Kyoto target of 2008," he said. Germany opposes sinks, arguing they are little more than temporary absorbers of carbon dioxide and are a way for nations to avoid cutting pollution. Once ratified, the deal will set legally binding targets on the world's richer nations to cut "greenhouse gases" which are blamed for global warming. The new Bush administration, seeking to ally fears it would withdraw from the Kyoto process, said earlier this month it aims to finalise a deal when talks resume in Bonn in July. Kyoto talks - the so-called COP 6 negotiations - are scheduled to resume on July 16-27 in Bonn, while COP 7 will be held in Morocco in late October. US IS WORLD'S WORST POLLUTER Stephen Singer, of the World Wildlife Fund, said the U.S. was the worst polluter not simply in terms of total emissions but also with the highest level per capita. China and India, for example, have total annual emissions of 200 and 300 million tonnes respectively, but emissions per capita of 2.5 and 0.9 tonnes. This contrasts with the U.S. that emits 720 million tonnes and has a per capita figure of 20.5 tonnes "I believe we should start to ratify without the U.S. After all the Protocol has been signed already by 85 parties and ratified by 33 of them, with Romania the latest a few weeks ago" Singer added. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

--- FRIENDS OF THE EARTH EUROPE --- Press Release March 14th 2001

======================================= EU STANDING ALONE ON CLIMATE CHANGE ? =======================================

>>>Problems foreseen for the next international climate talks after negative announcement by President Bush

Friends of the Earth Europe today welcomed the judgement delivered by the European Court of Justice yesterday on the former German electricity feed-in law but sees black clouds on the horizon when comparing this development with recent moves by President Bush on the other side of the Atlantic.

While the ECJ ruled that the German renewables law did not constitute state aid under the EU treaty nor contravene the bloc's internal market rules, the new US President blew hopes that the USA might be moving towards acting on climate change. While he and his administration have been telling the public that global warming is taken seriously by the new team, he has now renounced plans to regulate carbon dioxide emissions form power plants. His short-term reasoning is the threat of rising electricity prices, while ignoring impacts of unmitigated emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide on the global climate.

Roger Higman, Senior Climate Campaigner at Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland said: "This comes as a major blow to hopes that EU and US thinking on climate might be reconcilable. We have always said that Bush is willfully blind to the threat of global warming. Now we are proved right. Regulation of carbon dioxide from power plants would have been a serious instrument to fulfil the US targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would have showed that the US is actually willing to do something about the largest threat we all face today: climate change."

The regulation of carbon dioxide would have been part of the so-called multi pollutant strategy, but now, the regulators will only address classic air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury, but not the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Roda Verheyen, Friends of the Earth Europe climate change expert: " This announcement really brings out the difference between the EU and the US on climate policies. The European Courts said yesterday that regulation is necessary to meet out climate targets. So necessary that it can even override principles free power trade in the EU. The US President does not even mention global warming when talking about energy policies."

"If we compare the ECJ judgement with the news from the US it is getting clear that the EU must have precise plans how to salvage the Kyoto Protocol with other Parties than the US. Otherwise the US will succed with its strategy to kill any serious global efforts to save our climate."

The last global climate talks in November 2000 in The Hague failed to deliver an agreement on rules for implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The next round of talks is scheduled for July 16-27 in Bonn. Under the Kyoto Protocol, the US has agreed to reduce emissions of greennhouse gases by 7% below 1990 levels, the EU has agreed to cut by 8%.

================ Further information: ================

>> Roger Higman, Senior Climate Campaigner at FOE in London: Tel: 00 44 171 566 1661 Mobile: 00 7780 661807 E-mail: rogerh@foe.co.uk

>> Howard Mollett, Press & Information at FOE Europe in Brussels: Tel: 0032 [0] 2 542 0189 E-mail: howard.mollett@foeeurope.org

WWF press release For immediate release 14 March 2001

President Bush Backtracks on Climate

Washington, DC - In a landmark retreat on climate change, Presiden