America Rejects UN Plea To Cut Emissions At Nairobi Summit - SMH

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Washington has rejected pleas by UN chief Kofi Annan to cut greenhouse gas emissions and dismissed his charge that there is a "frightening lack of leadership" in fighting global warming. "We think that the United States has been leading in terms of its ground-breaking initiatives," Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, told reporters at the UN climate change conference in Nairobi.

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The US is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and it and Australia are the only major industrialised countries to reject the Kyoto Protocol, which sets greenhouse gas emission targets for developed countries.

US President George W Bush says Kyoto would harm the US economy, and it should have required cutbacks in poorer nations as well. Australia has used identical arguments to defend its refusal to sign the pact.

The underlying principle of Kyoto was that the developed world should shoulder most of the economic burden of cutting emissions until developing countries reached a point where they could afford to do the same. But Kyoto opponents argue there are no firm guarantees that developing countries will eventually sign up to specific targets.

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/US-rejects-UN-plea-to-cut-gas-emissions/2006/11/16/1163266694986.html