Washington and Brussels at odds on emissions cuts

Date: 24/06/1999

By Simon Coss

TALKS between Washington and the EU over how to cut world-wide emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce global warming are deadlocked once again.

The issue dividing the two powers this time is the question of whether or not countries should be obliged to meet the majority of their international commitments to reduce emissions through domestic policy measures. The EU says countries are legally bound to do this, but the US disagrees.

At international talks in Bonn earlier this month, the two remained as far apart as ever and, in the words of one aide to Acting Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard, "agreed to disagree" on the question.

Under the deal struck in Kyoto in December 1997, developed countries pledged to cut emissions of six greenhouse gases to 5.2% below 1990 levels by 2012. But the accord also stated that countries could use a set of controversial and as-yet untested policy options known as 'flexible mechanisms' to meet this target.

The principle behind this approach is that, because global warming is a world-wide problem, it does not matter where in the world emission cuts are made so long as the overall target is met.

Flexible mechanisms include a number of schemes which would allow rich states to pay poorer countries not to produce the harmful gases, instead of introducing unpopular 'green' policies at home.

The current spat between Washington and Brussels centres on the two sides' widely differing interpretations of what the Kyoto accord says about flexible mechanisms.

Bjerregaard's aides insist that it clearly states that they should only be used as a supplement to domestic action. The Americans argue that Kyoto places no limits on their use.

Officials say the problem is unlikely to be resolved in time for the next ministerial meeting of the Kyoto accord signatories, planned for October. This raises doubts about whether the issue will be settled by the autumn 2000 deadline agreed by the signatories at a meeting in Buenos Aires late last year.

Keyword: Kyoto.