After years of hedging the issue under former Prime Minister John Howard, Australia under its newly elected Primed Minister and Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd has ratified the Kyoto Protocol. This leaves the US in the uncomfortable position of being the only country that hasn’t ratified the global environmental treaty.
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According to Rudd, who won in a landslide election victory last week, the ratification would be the first act of the new government, and would signify its commitment to tackling the global warming crises. Australia will be a full fledged member of Kyoto by March 2008.
Those doing the victory dance shouldn’t be too excited though. Rudd admitted that his country will in all probability be unable to meet the treaty’s requirements in the first year, and said Australia will probably overshoot its green house gases emission limit by at least one percent. While Australia has one of the highest per capita emission rates in the world, it’s still much lower compared to bigger emitters like the US.
Some Aussie environmentalists have said that it’s already many many years too late. Still, better late then never. And the Aussie signature significantly ups the pressure on the US to come aboard Kyoto.