USUAL SUBJECTS, USUAL SUSPECTS, CLIMATE STILL AT RISK

29 October 2001

Marrakech - Australia, Canada, Russia and Japan are attempting to undermine the landmark Bonn Agreement reached last July to finalise the rules for the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement aimed at preventing dangerous climate change that open in Marrakech today, Greenpeace warned.

The 7th Conference of the Parties (COP7) of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) begins today in Morocco, to finalise the details of the Bonn Agreement. The Protocol was initially designed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 5% but the rules which have already been agreed are so weak that it is now unlikely to achieve any reduction in greenhouse emissions.

"It’s vital that these next two weeks in Marrakech do not see the Protocol further weakened. Even the Protocol’s nominal target of 5% reduction hardly started the process of making the 80% reductions needed to prevent dangerous levels of climate change," said Mr Bill Hare, Greenpeace climate policy director. "Australia, Canada, Russia, and Japan must not be allowed to further weaken the Kyoto Protocol. Delegates must finish the job."

Most countries have set a target of 2002 for ratification and implementation of the Protocol, and are moving towards that date; but a few, including Australia, Canada and Japan are still holding out on the final details before ratifying. The United States, which signed and ratified the UNFCCC in 1992, and signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, continues to state that it no longer intends to ratify or implement the Protocol.

In its ongoing attempt to avoid an agreement that has any legal consequences, Australia has tried to weaken the whole Protocol by substituting the word "should" for the world "shall" throughout the compliance agreement, weakening its legal power. Australia also wants to be able play with its figures on forestry and land use, and is trying to get the rules written so it doesn’t even have to say exactly where the forests are.

Japan is extremely nervous about legally binding penalties for failing to meet its emission obligations. Canada also wants to weaken the requirement to report its sinks. Russia is demanding an even bigger sink allowance than it got in Bonn.

The USA is refusing to ratify the Protocol at all, but is still participating in negotiations. While the US has indicated it would come up with an alternative policy to address climate change, it has not done so. Greenpeace will be watching the US closely to see whether it attempts to block the Protocol or interfere with progress made by other participants.

"Throughout the next two weeks of talks, Greenpeace will be aiming to ensure that the Protocol is as environmentally effective as possible," said Mr Hare. "It must not be muddied with diplomatic doubletalk and further weakened. The processes that underpin the Protocol must be transparent and open for public participation, and the Protocol itself must be backed by the full force of international law."

"The Protocol remains the only international legal instrument designed to start the world on the road towards the massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that are needed this century to avoid disastrous climate change. We cannot afford to let it be sacrificed to greed and shortsightedness."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

For interviews contact Bill Hare in Marrakech on +31 6 21296899, Steve Sawyer on +31 6 53504715, or media officers Louise Fraser on +31 6 5395 5202 or Clemens Tolusso on +41 79 213 41 06 (French speaking).

Visit www.greenpeace.org/~climate/climatecountdown/ for reports, briefings and updates from the CoP-7 climate negotiations in Marrakech.