The Kyoto protocol on climate change, at the center of the EU-US summit in Gothenburg, is "fatally flawed," in the view of US President George W. Bush.
The White House underscored its objections to the accord in a report earlier this week summarizing experts' arguments in a "climate change review."
The report argued that targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases would penalize developed countries and their businesses while failing to act on emissions in developing states.
"The Kyoto Protocol would leave the United States dangerously dependent on other countries to meet its emission targets.... (It) poses serious and unnecessary risks to the US and world economies," the report warned.
"The Kyoto Protocol is ineffective in addressing climate change because it excludes developing countries.... Current data indicate that developing countries' net emissions (including emissions and uptake from land use activities) have already exceeded those of the developed world," it said.
Annual developing country emissions of carbon dioxide would double between 1990 and 2012, it added.
Quotas for industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions meanwhile were "not based on science" and "precipitous," it held -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
