| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
06 Jul 2005 10:51:15 AM |
| Object: |
Lords fuel climate change row with blow to Kyoto |
Lords fuel climate change row with blow to Kyoto
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=746502005
GERRI PEEV
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Key points
• Lords report finds Kyoto targets will make little change to global
warming
• Report echoes US criticisms of ecological treaty's economic damage
• White House chairman predicts compromise on climate issues at start
of G8
Key quote
"The Kyoto Protocol makes little difference to rates of global warming
and has a naive compliance mechanism, which can only deter countries
from signing up to subsequent tighter emissions targets" - House of
Lords report
Story in full THE Kyoto Protocol has been rubbished by a heavyweight
committee of peers, on the day that Tony Blair opens the G8 summit
with a focus on global warming.
A cross-party House of Lords report today finds that the Kyoto targets
will make "little difference" to the pace of global warming and has
called for Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, to calculate how much it is
costing Britain.
The report will deal a damaging blow both to Mr Blair's attempt to
present a "consensus" behind global warming, and demands that the
United States agrees to Kyoto in a G8 declaration tomorrow.
In a report seemingly timed to have maximum impact on the G8, which is
due to release its climate change communique tomorrow, the peers said
that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United
Nations-backed environmental watchdog, is tainted by "political
interference".
Policymakers were too focused on mitigating climate change, rather
than adapting to it, they said.
Lord Lawson, a former chancellor and committee member, was critical of
the way that Kyoto targets for greenhouse gas emissions had been
"subcontracted" to the IPCC, which he described as "very, very
flawed".
An issue so central to Britain's economy should be decided by the
government, he said. "I can tell you that I was astonished when the
Treasury witness said that the Treasury really wasn't involved in any
serious way in this at all," he said.
"When I was chancellor, it would have been unthinkable on a matter as
important as economic affairs - important in public expenditure terms
- that the Treasury was not making a very thorough analysis of the
issue."
The committee expressed sympathy with the United States, whose Senate
voted unanimously against any climate-change treaty that could damage
the economy without imposing conditions on developing countries.
Instead of trying to coerce the US president, George Bush, into
signing up to the Kyoto Protocol, the UK should abandon the treaty and
explore alternatives based on agreements over carbon-free technology.
"We are concerned that the international negotiations on
climate-change reduction will be ineffective because of the
preoccupation with setting emissions targets," the report said.
"The Kyoto Protocol makes little difference to rates of global warming
and has a naive compliance mechanism, which can only deter countries
from signing up to subsequent tighter emissions targets."
Since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, scientists have
established that it would simply mean global temperature rising by
2.35°C rather than 2.5°C by 2100.
The House of Lords called for a carbon tax to replace the
climate-change levy, while warning that policies such as saving energy
and renewables were based on "dubious assumptions".
The report was angrily attacked by environmental campaigners
yesterday. Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth
Scotland, said there was no obsession with targets.
"The idea that we will make progress on tackling climate change
without having some sort of targets is ludicrous. Without targets,
there is no incentive."
Meanwhile, Mr Bush has come a long way towards agreeing with
campaigners on some of the basic issues. He said in an ITV interview
on Monday that the planet is warming and "obviously" man is partly
responsible.
He is likely to repeat this in a G8 declaration tomorrow, in what may
be described by UK ministers as a significant concession. But in
Washington, aides have rounded on the European consensus on Kyoto. The
president's top environmental adviser yesterday attacked European
countries for their "narrow" view of global warming.
Jim Connaughton, the chairman of the White House, predicted that the
G8 summit starting today in Gleneagles will end without narrowing the
gap between the US and Europe over climate change and the Kyoto
Protocol, to cut emissions.
Pre-summit talks to prepare the ground for a final declaration are
heading towards division, the adviser said. "There's a reflection of
the fact that a number of the countries are proceeding with Kyoto and
some other countries are pursuing their own strategy," Mr Connaughton
told US journalists before the president took off for Scotland.
Climate change and its causes is a contentious issue, dividing nations
and scientists. One puzzling anomaly is the Franz Josef glacier in New
Zealand, which has been growing, rather than receding, at a rate of
12ft a day, apparently bucking the expectations that glaciers would
recede in a warmer environment.
The British government has argued that there is a clear consensus,
which the US must accept. But the implementation of Kyoto four months
ago has revived the debate, showing that the facts remain in dispute.
The G8 will discuss climate change tomorrow. The draft communique,
which has been widely leaked, simply restates the general principles -
and speaks of the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Ministers are
hoping that the US will agree to an ongoing dialogue with India and
China, who in 1997 were considered too poor to sign Kyoto. There will
also be agreement on the importance of new fuel technologies.
--
A general rule: if enough people predict something, it
wonąt happen. -- J. G. Ballard
"America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." -- John Updike
"Long term commitment in relationships is only necessary because it takes
so damn long to raise children. Marriage may well be some kind of trick
to keep the males around beyond sexual satiation." -- Captain Compassion
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
res0mp8t@NOSPAMverizon.net
.
|
|
| User: "00:00:00Hg" |
|
| Title: Re: Lords fuel climate change row with blow to Kyoto |
06 Jul 2005 11:08:31 AM |
|
|
On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 15:51:15 +0000, Captain Compassion wrote:
Lords fuel climate change row with blow to Kyoto
***** Kyoto, let's burn a mountian of tires.
--
http://openlinefriday.com
Talk Radio Evaluation Center
Hollywood Reconstruction Site
Wholesale Political Incorrectness
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
