Japan and Canada's leaders agreed Friday to try to rescue the Kyoto Protocol on global warming but ruled out any chance of a quick deal, a Japanese official said.
They conceded there was no possibility of a breakthrough to resuscitate the pact during a four-day meeting of environment ministers from around the world already underway in Bonn, he said.
US President George W. Bush walked away from the accord in March, dealing a a crippling blow to the plan to curb the output of toxic gases blamed for heating up the planet.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Canadian counterpart Jean Chretien stressed the need for US participation when they met in the Italian port city Genoa on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit.
"Prime Minister Chretien told our prime minister that countries must reach an agreement on the Kyoto Protocol by trying to find a compromise together with the United States," a Japanese government official said.
"Mr. Chretien said there is no need to change the goal but there are various options (in order to reach a compromise)," said the official, who attended the 50-minute meeting.
Koizumi replied: "I totally agree with you. My position has been consistent. We have to make maximum efforts to enforce the pact by 2002. We (Japan and Canada) should make an effort to reach that goal."
The Japanese leader agreed with Chretien on the need to seek US participation. "It would be preferable if the United States joins the pact," Koizumi was quoted as saying.
The global climate issue is expected to be high on the agenda during the G8 summit, which drew leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Despite their pledge to try to salvage the pact, however, the Japanese and Canadian leaders played down the chance of a deal emerging in Bonn.
"Full agreement is impossible in Bonn but we had better agree on what we can resolve," Koizumi said. "We still have time before the year 2002."
Chretien agreed with the Japanese leader's assessment, the Japanese official said.
Tokyo has come under fire from European officials and environmental campaigners for ambiguity as it has publicly vowed to ratify the treaty in 2002 but says it still wants the United States to join in.
"It has been said Japan is hesitant to agree on the Kyoto Protocol but that is misunderstanding," Koizumi said. "I will express my stance that Japan is a country which is trying to make utmost efforts."
Bush has said the treaty is fundamentally flawed because it does not require commitments from developing countries. He argues that its application would damage US economic interests.
At the meeting with Koizumi, Chretien called for the climate control agreement to take account of the role played by forests in sucking up airborne carbon dioxide (CO2), blamed for warming the Earth.
Chretien also called on signatory countries to fully admit the use of nuclear energy as an effective substitute to cut CO2 and to encourage exports of natural gas, which emits less CO2 than coal.
Signed in 1997, the protocol commits 38 industrialized countries to an overall cut by 2010 of 5.2 percent of carbon-rich greenhouse gases over their 1990 levels.
Scientists say these emissions, mainly the by-product of burning oil, gas and coal, are warming the atmosphere and could dramatically change weather patterns -- GENOA, Italy (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
