Howard refuses to ratify Kyoto treaty

CANBERRA - Australia, the world's largest coal exporter, will not ratify the Kyoto climate change treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday.

Australia's rejection of the Kyoto treaty came a day after Japan ratified the treaty and urged nations such as Russia and the United States, the world's biggest polluter, to sign up.

Until now the Australian Government had been undecided about whether it would join the list of about 50 countries that have endorsed the 1997 UN treaty designed to reduce heat-trapping gases blamed for rising global temperatures.

"It is not in Australia's interests to ratify the Kyoto protocol," Howard told Parliament.

"For us to ratify the protocol would cost us jobs and damage our industry. That is why the Australian Government will continue to oppose ratification."

Under the pact, industrialised nations must cut emissions by an average 5 per cent by 2012 from 1990 levels, but 55 nations producing 55 per cent of world carbon dioxide emissions - the main greenhouse gas - must ratify the pact to make it binding.

At Kyoto Australia in fact won the right to increase its emissions by 8 per cent above 1990 levels.

Yet Howard argued the arrangements of the Kyoto pact would not work while it did not impose reduction targets on developing nations and excluded countries such as the United States.

Howard said Australia's position in the context of Kyoto was unusual because Australia was a developed nation that was also a massive net exporter of energy.

"The idea that you can sign up to a protocol that would facilitate the export of dirty industries from this country into developing countries and therefore facilitate the flight of jobs from this country ... would hurt this country," he said.

The Government has come under increasing pressure from carbon-intensive industries such as mining to stay out of the pact.

- REUTERS

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