US REFUSES TO NEGOTIATE ON CLIMATE

18 December 2000

Brussels - After three weeks of diplomatic manouvering and discussions, including a meeting in Ottawa, numerous conference calls and formal diplomatic exchanges, the US and the so-called 'Umbrella Group' (USA, Canada, Japan and Australia) have refused to attend a ministerial level meeting in Oslo later this week to resume negotiations on protecting the global climate.

The talks, originally proposed by the European Union, were designed to resuscitate the stalled climate negotiations which reached a spectacular impasse in The Hague, The Netherlands, last month.

At the conclusion of the climate summit in November, Greenpeace said that the meeting in The Hague "would be remembered as the moment when governments abandoned the promise of global cooperation to protect planet earth."

After three weeks in limbo, the US and its cohorts have, unfortunately, confirmed that judgement, at least for now.

"The US continues to insist on exploiting loopholes in the original Kyoto Treaty, rather than taking the threat of climate change seriously and addressing its domestic greenhouse gas emissions, which are the largest in the world. One can only hope and pray that the newly elected George W Bush will realise that whatever mandate he does have, it is not one that allows him to destroy the climate," said Michel Raquet, Greenpeace spokesperson.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Michel Raquet +32 496163365, Lorenzo Consoli +32 496122112

Visit Greenpeace's Climate Countdown website.