Wrangling continues over global warming treaty

December 10, 1997
Web posted at: 8:57 p.m. EST (0157 GMT)

KYOTO, Japan (CNN) -- The international conference on global warming entered extra innings Thursday morning, as delegates worked through the night trying to forge a treaty curbing emissions on greenhouse gases that could achieve some level of meaningful support.

Delegates in Kyoto have reportedly agreed on one of the major points of the conference -- setting concrete greenhouse gas reduction levels for 34 industrialized nations. But other contentious issues are still being debated.

Conferees were said to be close to a compromise on a proposal that would allow countries to "buy" pollution credits on an international market, allowing a country that was under its limit for greenhouse gas emissions to sell extra capacity to countries that are out of room under their cap.

China and India objected to the pollution credit proposal, sponsored by the United States, saying it would allow industrialized countries to escape making required cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

For more than two tense hours, the stalemate imperiled the treaty negotiations. But the hurdle was overcome by promises to China, and the other countries objecting to the U.S. proposal, that the concept would be further studied before implementation.

Conference chairman Raul Estrada of Argentina later dropped another U.S.-sponsored provision that would have imposed binding cuts in greenhouse emissions by developing countries, such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico.

Estrada

That could have significant repercussions for any pact reached in Kyoto because U.S. officials have said any treaty must include "meaningful participation" from developing countries.

The United States is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases, which are produced by burning fossil fuels and which many scientists blame for global warming. The U.S. Congress must approve any treaty coming out of Kyoto, and approval is considered unlikely if developing countries aren't subjected to limits on emissions.

"The Senate will not ratify a flawed climate treaty," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott warned Thursday in a statement.

The United States, Japan and European countries reportedly had agreed to cap greenhouse emissions at levels of 6 percent to 8 percent below what they were in 1990. The reductions -- greater than what the United States first proposed but less than what Europeans wanted -- would be required by 2008.

U.S. President Bill Clinton had announced before the conference that the United States would only be willing to agree to a 5 percent reduction and wanted to take longer to do it. But U.S. negotiators had been instructed to take a flexible posture during negotiations.

Without reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, scientists warn that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could double during the next century, warming the atmosphere and triggering an environmental chain reaction that could raise sea levels, change ocean currents and intensify damage from storms, droughts and the spread of tropical diseases.

Correspondent Tom Mintier and Reuters contributed to this report.

Causes  |  Signs  |  Hot Air?  |  Economic Stakes  |  Disagreements
Related Sites  |  Message Boards

Related stories:

• Global warming pact hits last-minute snag - December 10, 1997
• Proposal would cut greenhouse gasses by 5 percent - December 9, 1997
• Gore pledges 'flexibility' at climate summit - December 8, 1997
• Global warming debate: Dueling views of the future - December 2, 1997

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Official Site of the Third Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC
• Global Climate Information Project
• Climate Countdown - National Environmental Trust
• U.S. Global Climate Research Program

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

---

 

---

Sound off on our message boards You said it...

© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.