Global Disagreements

No consensus on global warming policy

November 27, 1997

(CNN) -- In 1995 several nations agreed that voluntary reductions in so-called greenhouse gases were not working. The group set a deadline -- namely the Kyoto conference -- to establish legally binding targets for reducing emissions in carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Here's a guide to some of the countries that have outlined positions on global warming.

Australia
Australia is in favor of setting non-binding targets at different levels for each country -- a process known as differentiation. Prime Minister John Howard has said his country would walk away from an international treaty rather than sacrifice jobs or economic growth. In fact, Howard says, the country's emissions in the next few years may increase.

Brazil
Brazil has presented a proposal for a "Green Bank" that would allow countries to buy and trade emissions credits, which is being supported by the Group of 77 developing nations plus China and has met with a favorable, though cautious, response.

Background

The Framework Convention on Climate Change is a document signed by roughly 170 nations including the U.S. during the 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janiero. The Convention calls for voluntary reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, with a goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000. Currently all industrialized nations are still increasing CO 2 and other greenhouse gas emissions; none are in compliance with the treaty's voluntary goals. The Kyoto summit will consider mandatory commitments and sharper reductions for heavily industrialized nations.

Canada
Once considered a green leader in the international field, Canada is now implementing a "harmonization" strategy. This means the federal government is pushing its environmental responsibilities to individual provinces, which are then drastically slashing their environmental budgets. On global warming, Canada says it may not be able to meet Japan's target and supports Australia's proposal of differentiation.

China and India
China is expected to overtake everyone in carbon emissions in the next 20 to 30 years. India, China and many other developing nations argue that putting limits on them but not on the developed nations would be economically ruinous. China has in fact said it would not commit to pollution controls until developed countries have acted.

Europe
The European Union came out with strong, binding goals proposing the sharpest cuts so far -- a blanket 15 percent cut in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2010. It's a laudable goal but somewhat tricky because it would allow some countries in the EU that have massive emissions problems to join with countries that have none and average it out.

Japan
Conference-host Japan's proposal to reduce global warming comes in the wake of a weakened domestic economy. Japan wants industrialized countries to achieve a 5 percent reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. But contained in the plan are several conditions that could allow countries exceeding the limit to go unpenalized. Environmentalists have blasted the proposal, saying it has inherent loopholes, and the European Union says the plan is inadequate to solve the problem of global warming.

Factoid

One-third of CO2 emissions in the United States come from the transportation sector.

United States
The United States, which with 4 percent of the global population is responsible for 20 to 25 percent of global emissions, proposed that it would stabilize emissions of greenhouse gases at 1990 levels by 2008-2012 and reduce emissions sometime after that. The plan, which falls short of other plans to cut emissions well below 1990 levels by 2010, or even 2005, has disappointed many environmentalists. Reductions beyond the 2008-2012 period are not defined, and will be left for negotiation farther down the line. Clinton's insistence that poorer nations such as China, which have been exempted thus far from the cutback plans, "meaningfully participate" promises to be a key point of contention at Kyoto.

The South Pacific Forum
The 15 nations comprising the South Pacific Forum are upset with Australia's position and say that Australian Prime Minister Howard bullied them into adopting softer wording on greenhouse problems during their annual September South Pacific Forum leader's summit. Small island nations such as Tonga and Papua New Guinea fear they will become engulfed by rising sea levels if global warming causes the ices caps to begin melting.

The forum's members are Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Tonga, Western Samoa, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.

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