UK says US can't "free-ride" on global warming
Date: 03-Apr-01
Country: UK
In a strongly worded article in the Observer newspaper, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said the United States was "the world's most polluting nation" and it could not "free-ride" on efforts to tackle climate change by the rest of the globe. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he agreed with Prescott's criticism of the United States for rejecting the 1997 Kyoto treaty to cut greenhouse gases, but opposed retaliation, such as trade sanctions.
"Global warming is happening. You can see it from the Arctic to the Antarctic. None of us can opt out of it. And one thing is for sure, the decision by President Bush is not going to alter that reality," Cook told ITN television news.
"At some stage we will all have to tackle this very grave problem," Cook said, but added: "I think retaliation is totally counter-productive. What's important now is to intensify the dialogue with the United States so it becomes part of the solution, not part of the problem."
Prescott, in his article, said the United States could not pretend it was not involved. "The U.S. cannot sit in glorious isolation," he said.
"It must know it cannot pollute the world while free-riding on action by everyone else," the deputy prime minister wrote.
"The challenge for the rest of the world is to persuade the American people that the threat of global warming is real and that the Kyoto targets are realistic because there are flexible ways to achieve them," Prescott said.
"The challenge for America is to show it is a responsible nation, which will work with the rest of the world to beat this problem in ways that help the economy."
The European Union said on Saturday it did not accept Bush's rejection of the Kyoto treaty to cut greenhouse gases but would not retaliate in the form of trade sanctions.
The Kyoto protocol calls on industrial countries to cut carbon dioxide emissions by on average 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The United States is the world's biggest source of emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas which many scientists say is the main culprit behind global warming.
Scientists believe that greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels, trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming which can lead to disastrous weather changes.