Originally published December 29 2005
U.N. adopts Kyoto Protocol for greenhouse emissions at conference in Canada
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
At a U.N. environmental conference in Montreal, countries agreed to adopt rules for limiting under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.
Countries meeting at U.N. environmental conference adopted on Wednesday the rules for limiting emissions of greenhouse gases under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, but Saudi Arabia held up a key section on policing the accord.
"This is an historic step," Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion, host of the November 28-December 9 talks by about 190 nations, said of the decision by government officials.
Kyoto obliges about 40 rich nations to curb their emissions of heat-trapping gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels in factories, cars and power plants, by 2012.
The Montreal meeting agreed to all but one of the 22 sections of the rules but Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, said it wanted rules on compliance to be approved by an amendment to be ratified by all nations, a process that could take years.
Jennifer Morgan, climate policy expert at the WWF environmental group, said Saudi Arabia was an ally of the United States, which is not a member of Kyoto, in opposing any discussion of what to do after 2012.
The Kyoto rule book was originally agreed at a conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001 but needed formal approval at the Montreal meeting to gain legal force.
Delegates predicted they would overcome the Saudi objections by the end of the conference.
"I'm absolutely confident that we'll have agreements on the compliance system," said Richard Kinley, acting head of the secretariat of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change which oversees Kyoto.
The United States pulled out in 2001, saying that it would cost U.S. jobs and wrongly excluded developing nations.
Under the compliance system, any country that overshoots its targets will have to make up the shortfall, and an extra 30 percent penalty, in the next period.
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