The Kyoto Protocol comes into effect in Europe’s newspapers

By Craig Winneker

Date: 17/02/05

THE Kyoto Protocol, which aims to slow global warming by requiring cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, takes effect this week and inspires coverage befitting a new religious holiday.

France's Libération describes the protocol as "one small step for diplomacy, but one giant leap for humanity".

The paper is at least a little realistic about what the treaty will and will not do. "The most important aspect of Kyoto - a text from which we should expect no miracles - is that a first step has been taken. Another future is conceivable." But, the paper predicts, this future will require several more giant leaps.

Switzerland's Tribune de Genève overheats even more quickly than the atmosphere, breathlessly saluting the arrival of the "historic Kyoto treaty to save the world from warming", something which no one claims it will in fact do.

But the paper also has an interesting economic angle on the accord in a separate story on the emissions trading schemes it has generated. "Worldwide trade in emissions is forecast to be worth €2.5 billion this year and under the most likely scenario will amount to €34bn in 2010," the paper reports, quoting a new report. "About half of the trade is expected to be within the European Union."

Norway's Aftenposten also waxes poetically: "In a world with many dark clouds hanging over it, Kyoto is a ray of hope. In historical terms, the battle to save the environment and combat pollution has only just begun."

The French daily Le Monde says the "coming into effect of Kyoto is a major event, a founding date in the fight" to protect the environment.

It predicts trouble for the US administration, which has rejected the treaty but is now under increasing pressure at home on the emissions front. US companies, it argues, "will find it difficult to continue as loners in a world largely regulated by the protocol".

Other papers take a more agnostic view. Germany's Die Welt says the protocol offers little value for the money. "If the most dramatic visions of our future climate are right," it says, "then the Kyoto process won't change this - it will at best delay the development by a few years."

At the same time, it points out, the agreement will cost national economies "billions" that could be spent more usefully on short-term measures to soften the effects of climate change.

Süddeutsche Zeitung says that although the protocol's effect on climate change will be limited, it is in every country's interest to adhere to it. It uses an oil-industry metaphor. "It is quite possible that the heavy tanker launched in Kyoto will only gain momentum once the consequences of climate change can no longer be overlooked."

Denmark's Politiken calls the Kyoto Protocol "a victory for diplomacy". It says that regardless of "whether or not the Kyoto Protocol is the best way of regulating mankind's effect on the global climate from now until the next Ice Age", it is "a milestone in world history which demonstrates that most countries are willing to co-operate about what is best for all".

El País predicts that complying with the protocol will be more difficult for Spain than for other EU countries, which "began planning their initiatives earlier".

It blames, you guessed it, the country's previous conservative administration. "The passiveness of the two previous Popular Party governments in dealing with the problem of climate change has aggravated the current critical situation," it complains.

Finally, El Periódico calls the supposed effects of climate change on Spain "alarming", noting that the country stands to lose much of its attraction as a tourist destination, which accounts for 10% of gross national product, and that many of its beaches may disappear by the end of the century. Maybe, but it will do wonders for the Belgian resort of Knokke.

• Craig Winneker is editor of TechCentralStation-Europe.

A review of Europe's press on the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.