Sun, Oct 24, 2004 page1

• Russian parliament backs Kyoto accord

  BREAKTHROUGH The Kyoto treaty, which at one point was precariously close to collapse, has been given a dramatic boost with Russia throwing its weight behind it

  • AGENCIES
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  The Russian parliament on Friday voted to ratify the Kyoto treaty, bringing the international climate-change protocol to within months of coming into effect.

  The lower house of the parliament, or duma, yesterday voted 334 to 73 to approve the treaty. This means that the protocol's 126 signatories have eight years to cut their emissions of six greenhouse gases to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels.

  The treaty needs 55 industrialized nations, representing 55 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, to sign it before it can come into effect.

  The US, responsible for 36 percent of emissions in 1990, and Australia have already refused to sign up to the measure, meaning Russia had to ratify the treaty to save it from collapse. The move will be seen as a sign that Moscow is keen to curry favor with Brussels after bruising attacks from the EU over its human-rights abuses in recent months.

  The bill now must pass through the more pliant upper house of parliament, the federation council, and then be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, the bill's main advocate. The duma, where the pro-Putin United Russia party commands a two-thirds majority, was perhaps the only possible impediment to the bill becoming law. The treaty will come into effect 90 days after it is ratified by Russia.

  Putin prevaricated over the bill, saying that Russia would only sign it if it was in the national interest and suggesting it would need modifying. His key advisor on the issue, Andrei Illarionov, made Russia's vital ratification of the pact seem unlikely when he described it as an "economic Auschwitz," insisting it would cripple economic development.

  However, Putin publicly announced he would ratify the treaty after a meeting with EU officials in May, on the same day as the EU dropped its objections to Russia joining the WTO.

  Mikhail Delyagin, head of the Institute for Globalization Problems and a former government economic advisor, said the move was "a purely political step." He said the EU's emphasis on human rights could have led to a "storm of criticism in Europe" over Putin's recent political reforms, enabling him to appoint regional governors and further increasing his strength in parliament.

  "Signing Kyoto is a bone thrown to Europe to make them shut up," he said.

  The US, flying in the face of snowballing world opinion, said on Friday it would not follow Russia's lead and ratify the Kyoto protocol on global warming.

  "We have no intention of signing or ratifying it. We have not changed our views," a defiant deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said after the EU and environmentalists across the globe hailed Moscow's decision and urged Washington to follow suit.

  Heading the chorus of delight after the Russian Cabinet approved the Kyoto pact and sent it to lawmakers for ratification was the EU, which has been battling to save the accord thrown into disarray by the US walkout.

  "This is a huge success for the international fight against climate change," declared European Commission President Romano Prodi. "Today, President Putin has sent a strong signal of his commitment and sense of responsibility."

  Australia repeated its lack of interest in following Russia's lead and joining every other rich country other than the US in signing the pact.

  The environment minister, Ian Campbell, claimed the government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard was opposed to the effort to slow global climate change because it didn't go far enough.

  "What Australia wants to do is engage the major emitters in a comprehensive agreement," Campbell told national broadcaster ABC.

  Australia is one of only three countries allowed to raise emissions under the Kyoto rubric. It was set a very generous target of achieving 108 per cent of 1990 emissions by 2010 after it threatened to boycott negotiations.

  On a per capita basis, Australia is the world's biggest generator of greenhouse gases. The US is the biggest polluter overall.

  International environmental lobby group Greenpeace urged Howard to think again about Kyoto now that Russia has become a signatory.

  "It's shameful the prime minister refuses to ratify this while the world is proceeding with this important step," Greenpeace spokesman Danny Kennedy said. "Kyoto is just a small step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As an Australian citizen I'm embarrassed."
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