Would the US Join Kyoto with John Kerry

October 17, 2004 – Vol.9 No.30

WOULD THE U.S. JOIN KYOTO WITH JOHN KERRY?

With the Duma ratifying Kyoto, only last minute paper work in Russia is needed to bring the first international greenhouse gas reduction effort into force.

The U.S. entrance into Kyoto will likely hinge on the elections on November 2. President Bush has already put himself out of the Kyoto discussion. Senator John Kerry has not really said publicly what he will do about the treaty, except the possibility that Kyoto should be renegotiated to include China.

It wouldn’t entirely be in Kerry’s hands, however. It’s the U.S. Senate that needs to ratify it. But if China were on board the Senate could be in a more approving mood.

Kerry may be right about including China. In 1997 - only seven years ago - when Kyoto was first being negotiated, China was a growing industrial power house, but still considered a developing nation. Nobody then could have expected what China has become.

Along with economic might China has also become an even bigger greenhouse gas polluter. Developing countries were excused from Kyoto as it was feared that a clamp-down on greenhouse gas emissions would stunt growth. Although much of China is very,very poor there is now a middle class and personal wealth is growing.

So, has China crossed the bar from developing to developed?

How can a country that can put a man into space be considered a developing nation?

Already China has embraced renewable energy as a way to add new power capacity to meet economic demands. Being forced by treaty to build even more green power would be good for them. And if they sign on to Kyoto, then the U.S. would run out of excuses why it can’t