EU RATFIES THE KYOTO PROTOCOL - BACK TO ITS LEADERSHIP ROLE?

31 May 2002

Bali, Brussels - As the European Union and its member states prepare to formally ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change later today in New York, Greenpeace applauded its decision, and called on remaining nations to follow the EU's lead.

The Kyoto Protocol was born from the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change at the 1992 first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Now, 10 years after the 1992 summit - and nearly four and half years after the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol - on the other side of the world from New York, government ministers are gathering in Bali for the final preparatory meeting before the 2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit.

"The EU's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol today is politically very significant,"(1) said Michel Raquet, Greenpeace EU advisor. "Not only does it bring the Protocol's entry into force much closer, but it also gives the EU the political credibility to put the Johannesburg train back on the right track."

For the Kyoto Protocol to enter into force, 55 Parties to the convention must ratify it, including industrialised countries accounting for 55 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions in 1990. The Protocol enters into force 90 days after these two conditions are met. With the today's EU ratification, the first condition - of 55 Parties ratifying - has been largely met(2). It also means a dramatic jump in the percentage of industrialised country emissions now covered under the Protocol from 2.7 percent to around 26.7 percent - nearly half the required amount of 55 percent.

With the rejection of the Protocol by the USA, which accounts for 36.1 percent of the 1990 CO2 emissions of the industrialised countries, the principle route to entry into force now requires Russia, Japan, as well as Poland or most of a group made up of the Central and East Europe and Switzerland to ratify the Protocol.

"With the possible ratification by Japan next week, the key question is Russia," said Raquet. "President Putin made a clear commitment at this week's Russia-EU summit that Russia will definitely ratify the Protocol, but no dates have been named."

"Although the ratification by the EU is timely and sends a clear and definitive signal to all countries around the world that the EU is serious about Kyoto, we hope that the EU Ministers present today in the UN Headquarters will pick up the Secretary Generalīs speech from last week, where he stated that Earth Summit should adopt concrete time-bound objectives focused on water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity."

"We urge ministers not to forget to bring their 'leadership kit' with them in Bali," Raquet concluded.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Michel Raquet, Greenpeace European Unit, at +32(0) 496 16 33 65
Louise Fraser, Greenpeace media officer +61(0) 409 993 568

(2) Article 25 of the Kyoto Protocol stipulates a period of ninety days between the deposit of the legal instrument of ratification which fulfils the necessary threshold and the date of entry into force.

The necessary threshold is also defined in Article 25 of the Kyoto Protocol. There are two basic conditions for the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. The first one is that at least 55 Parties to the Convention have ratified. However, the key barrier to the Protocol entering into force is not the number of ratifications but ensuring that the industrialised countries (Annex I Parties) that ratify are sufficiently large global warming polluters to exceed 55 per cent of the 1990 CO2.

As of today taking into account the 15 EU Member States and the EC, 70 Parties have already ratified the Kyoto Protocol from which the following Annex I Parties : Czech Republic, Romania, Norway representing respectively 1.2 percent, 1.2 percent and 0.3 percent of the total 1990 CO2 Annex I parties. The EU has a 24.2 percent share of the 1990 Annex I CO2 emissions.