KEY POINTS:
Canberra - The Australian Labor party's plan to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol is not in Australia's interests, Prime Minister John Howard says.
Mr Howard says the international greenhouse gas emissions reduction agreement does not involve developing countries, which is one of the government's fundamental objections to the protocol.
"What is the point of having a situation where perhaps by the year 2030 two-thirds of the emissions are coming from countries that are not part of the international agreement," he told ABC radio today.
"Mr Garrett (Labor's environment spokesman) is apparently willing to be part of that process but we are not because that would not be in Australia's interests."
Mr Howard said emissions in the US fell about one per cent last year but rose by about 6-7 per cent in China and by the year 2030, close to two-thirds of the world's emissions would emanate from developing countries.
The government was not arguing that the same rules in an international agreement should apply to both developing and developed countries, he said.
"But the idea of a new international agreement which did not apply to developing countries would be very damaging to Australia," he said.
"We are willing to be part of an international agreement. We are willing to ratify an international agreement, we are willing to have an international agreement apply to Australia, but provided it also applies in an appropriate way to all of the world's major emitters."
Labor has undertaken to cut emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.
It has also undertaken to ratify Kyoto, with Labor environment spokesman Peter Garrett today suggesting it could sign on to an international agreement with developing nations signing on later.
Mr Howard said his objection to Kyoto was not its aspiration to reduce emissions but that it never applied to countries such as China.
"Even if all of the countries that signed up to Kyoto had met their targets - which virtually none of them have - the fall in the world emissions on 1990 levels would be 41 versus 42 which is a difference of one per cent," he said.
"That is a meaningless outcome because the Kyoto Protocol for all its symbolism has not in practice been effective.
"That is the reason why Australia has not been willing to ratify it, although unlike most of the countries that have ratified it, we are probably going to meet our Kyoto target of 108 (per cent emissions reduction) over 1990 levels."
Mr Howard said the government position was clear and united.
"We are prepared to be part of a new international agreement that covers the world's major emitters," he said.
- AAP
