Originally published January 16 2006
Canadian official discusses the future of emissions laws
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Canada's environment minister, Stephane Dion, is serving as president of the climate change conference being held in Montreal, and he talks to reporters about the Montreal Action Plan, which will act as a guide to the future of emissions standards worldwide.
The parallel tracks represented a mixed result for the pivotal two-week U.N. conference on global warming, doing little to close the climate gap between Washington on one side, and Europe, Japan and other supporters of the Kyoto Protocol on the other.
We need the support of the United States -- but also of the big emerging countries," a reference to China and other poorer industrializing nations not obligated under Kyoto.
The Montreal meeting was the first of the annual climate conferences since the Kyoto Protocol took effect last February, mandating specific cutbacks in emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases by 2012 in 35 industrialized countries.
Former President Clinton, a Kyoto supporter, appeared at the Montreal meeting on its final day and urged nations to unite to confront the threat.
The protocol's language required its 157 member nations at this point to begin talks on deeper emissions cuts for the next phase, which begins when Kyoto expires in 2012.
At the same time, the host Canadians tried to draw in the Americans on the parallel track, under the umbrella 1992 U.N. climate treaty, which does not mandate emissions cuts or other actions on global warming.
"It's clear the Bush administration isn't willing to accept its responsibility," climate expert Bill Hare of Greenpeace International said of the continued U.S. rejection of global negotiations and emissions controls.
Instead, the U.S. delegation said it favors voluntary efforts and bilateral and regional arrangements to tackle climate change.
It repeatedly pointed to U.S. government spending on research and development of energy-saving technologies as a demonstration of U.S. efforts on climate.
In a news conference after his speech, Clinton suggested the Europeans and others not try to force Kyoto-style "targets" on Washington, but look for agreement on specific energy-saving projects.
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