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Kyoto goes ahead, sans US
The treaty, requiring cuts in gas emissions, has come into effect with support of 141 nations.
The Kyoto Protocol, the landmark treaty requiring cuts in gas emissions causing global warming, was to take effect on Wednesday with support of 141 nations but a boycott by the biggest polluter the United States.
From February 16, the 30 industrialised countries which have ratified the treaty will be legally bound to slash output of greenhouse gas by 5.2 per cent before 2012, with targets set for each nation based on their 1990 levels.
The United States pulled out of the treaty in 2001 in one of President George W. Bush's first acts in office, saying it would hurt the US economy. Australia is the only other major industrialised country to reject the treaty, which was reached in 1997 in Japan's ancient capital.
The Bush administration points out that developing countries such as China and India are outside the Kyoto framework, meaning that their growing economies would not face the same economic burden as the United States if it were part of Kyoto.
China, which is seeing double-digit economic growth, is by some forecasts expected to exceed the United States as the world's top polluter by 2020. Developing countries will be asked to make commitments in the next phase of Kyoto negotiations to begin later this year.
Japan and Britain, two of the United States' closest allies, have pledged to push Bush to return to international dialogue on global warming.
"The blunt reality is that unless America comes back into some form of dialogue and international consensus, it's very hard to make progress," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Saturday.
The United States was on the defensive ahead of Kyoto taking effect, insisting that it rejected the treaty for legitimate reasons and was committed to reducing pollution outside the treaty.
"Under this administration we have made an unprecedented commitment to reduce the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in a way that continues to grow our economy," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said on Tuesday.
"There's a lot that we are still learning about the science of climate change, but this administration is working to advance that science and to learn more about climate change, itself, and its effect on the world," he said.
The Bush administration's view on global warming is disputed by most of the scientific community which believes pollution can in time shrink polar ice gaps and melt alpine glaciers, cause global sea levels to rise and lead to potential droughts and floods and the extinction for some species.
"The tools for keeping climate change under control, such as renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures, are developed and ready to use," said Stephanie Tunmore, the climate campaigner of Greenpeace International.
"Kyoto is the signal that governments and industry have been waiting for. There is now a price on climate pollution and penalties for polluters. The switch to a low carbon economy begins here," she said in a statement.
In New Zealand, Greenpeace environmental activists scaled a moth-balled power station in protest against coal-burning technologies to mark the entry into effect of the Kyoto Protocol.
The United States produces about a quarter of all the world's greenhouse emissions and Australia generates the most per capita in the industrialised world.
Speaking from Kyoto, Australian Senator Bob Brown, leader of the small Greens Party, said Australia was known as the "environmental bad boy".
"(Australian Prime Minister) John Howard's siding with the Bush administration in refusing to ratify the protocol is an international embarrassment," he said.
But even for countries that have signed on to Kyoto, meeting the goals could be difficult.
The Japanese trade and industry ministry has said that 11 of its 30 industries could fail to meet self-imposed targets aimed at helping Japan meet its legal requirement to slash emissions by six per cent.
