A Leap Towards Kyoto | Green Energy News

May 26, 2002 – Vol.7 No.9

A LEAP TOWARDS KYOTO.

The fifteen members of the European Union have formally ratified the Kyoto Protocol at a ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. The unanimous ratification brings the number of nations to sign on to 69, meeting one of two conditions for the treaty to go into force.

The other condition is for ratification by 55 developed countries that accounted for at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in the base year 1990. (Until the EU ratification, only developing nations had signed on.) The EU commitment brings that proportion to 26.6 percent. To meet the requirement Japan at 8.5 percent in 1990 must ratify, as must Russia at 17.4 percent and the remainder from Canada to exceed the magic 55 percent. Japan is expected to ratify in a matter of days, Russia not until late in the year, and Canada is vacillating. Stay tuned.