EU environment ministers have agreed to adopt the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, clearing the way for ratification as early as next week.
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European Environment Commissioner
Ms Margot Wallstrom |
Approval of the 1997 accord, which the United States controversially rejected last year after saying it would cost too many US jobs, had been expected.
The measure, approved overwhelmingly by the European Parliament last month, commits the EU to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent (based on 1990 figures) from 2008 to 2012.
One stumbling block had been Denmark's insistence on a revision of its gas reduction quota, a change rejected by all other states. But that was settled last week, clearing the way for easy approval by ministers here on Monday.
The EU summit in Barcelona next week could see formal ratification of the treaty.
Environmental groups including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Climate Action Network (CAN) and Greenpeace have called on the EU to "unconditionally" ratify the measure, stressing any delay would send "the wrong political signal to the rest of the world."
Formal ratification by the EU council would need to come by June, when legal documents are to be submitted to the United Nations in time for the protocol to go into effect by the World Summit on Lasting Development in Johannesburg in September.
Ministers today compromised on how to ratify the treaty, eventually opting for a qualified majority instead of by unanimous decision.
The choice was expected to be well received by environmental groups which saw a requirement for a unanimous vote a dangerous precedent that would weaken future efforts to fight global warming.
US President George W Bush sparked worldwide furore shortly after taking office last year when he repudiated the treaty, which requires wealthy nations to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
He claimed Kyoto as written would cost millions of US jobs but last month unveiled an alternative which he said would not shortchange economic growth.
AFP