New US climate plan 1
U.S.-led climate plan won't supplant
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - A U.S.-led Asian-Pacific accord on spreading technology to fight global warming has hazy targets and is unlikely to end up supplanting the far broader U.N. Kyoto protocol, experts said on Thursday.
Unlike the 152-nation Kyoto pact, the six-country accord between the United States, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea sets no binding goals for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels blamed for rising temperatures.
Most experts said the pact was unlikely to undermine
"The world tried (non-binding goals)...in 1992 and not much happened. This is more or less repeating that effort, but with more vague goals and fewer countries," said Jorund Buen, a partner at Point Carbon analysis group.
The U.S.-led deal "has nothing to do with other, much bigger initiatives, which are of a global nature," said Javier Solana, foreign policy chief for the European Union which is among
The United States, the world's biggest polluter, and Australia are the only main developed nations outside the 1997 Kyoto pact, designed to limit a build-up of heat-trapping gases that many scientists fear will trigger more storms, droughts and flooding and cause sea levels to rise.
However,
Some experts were unsure whether to hail the six-nation deal, building on existing agreements on sharing more efficient energy technology, or to see it as an attempt by
"It could be a sign that the and are starting to take climate change more seriously," said David Viner, a senior climate research scientist at the
"The danger is that this may detract from the main mission of reducing greenhouse gas emissions under
The and insisted that the deal would complement rather than rival
President Bush pulled the out of the
However, comparisons with
The timing of the announcement of the six-nation accord is sensitive because a U.N. meeting in in November will launch government debate on widening
Environmentalists were skeptical about the accords, focusing on less-polluting technologies, clean coal, energy efficiency and burying greenhouse gases.
"It doesn't address the wider question that two of the richest countries in the world are doing nothing to reduce emissions," said Steve Sawyer, climate policy director at Greenpeace.
"This is just a technology transfer accord," said Jennifer Morgan, climate change expert of the WWF conservation group of the new accord. "If this is taking the issue seriously, the planet is in serious danger."
However, Buen at Point Carbon in
"For post-2012 it could have a positive influence because it indicates there is some willingness to move forward on climate by key developing countries as well as by non-signatories (of Kyoto)," he said.
Many opponents of