U.S. Economic growth seen forcing emissions cuts
Date: 16-Sep-99
Country: EU
Under the terms of the 1997 Kyoto protocol, under which many countries
agreed to cut such releases into the atmosphere but which the U.S. has
yet to ratify, Washington must lower emissions by seven percent from
1990 levels from 2008-2012.
But a projected 23 percent increase in emissions between now and 2010
means that the U.S. would have to reduce emissions by 30 percent
overall, Mark Hambley, the U.S. Special Negotiator on Climate Change,
told a Brussels news briefing.
There would be "very significant costs" involved in meeting this target
but it was realistic if the United States could make full use of
"emissions trading" which would allow it to do less to cut its own
emissions in return for helping poorer countries do the same, Hambley
said.
Hamley, who was in Brusssels for talks with EU officials and Belgian
government officials ahead of a meeting in Warsaw next week on climate
change, said there was a "new atmosphere" in talks with his EU
counterparts.
"Sometimes we get into spitting matters on particular issues which are
just differences of approach," he said.
The way forward was to focus on convergence and the many areas where the
two sides agreed, such as compliance with the Kyoto protocol, he added.
But progress was impossible without the cooperation of the private
sector.
"We want to move forward in a cost-effective way which is attractive to
the private sector," he told reporters.