US turning around on global warming: Merkel

Thu Aug 30, 1:42 PM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - The United States has become more involved in the fight against global warming since Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans two years ago, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT

Merkel, who has made climate change a key focus of the German presidency of the Group of Eight rich nations, said the US had "changed its attitude on climate change" in the decade since the landmark Kyoto Protocol was reached.

"I think the Americans have began thinking about the issue seriously as they were hit bitterly by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans," Merkel said on a visit to Japan marking 10 years since the deal was negotiated in the ancient city of Kyoto.

"There are plenty of factors regarding how the hurricane was generated but one factor might be the rise of temperatures due to global climate change," she told a forum in Tokyo.

The United States is this week mourning the victims of Katrina, which battered New Orleans and left 1,500 people dead across the Gulf Coast in 2005.

US negotiators were part of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations but Congress refused to ratify it.

President George W. Bush pulled the US out of Kyoto as one of his first acts in office in 2001, saying it was unfair to the world's largest gas emitter as it made no demands of fast-growing emerging economies such as China and India.

But Merkel said Washington was also looking ahead to a framework after Kyoto, which expires in 2012.

"Probably the Americans realised that unless they take measures on climate change, neither China nor India will move," Merkel said.

Merkel hosted the last Group of Eight summit in June which set a non-binding goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Japan is far behind in meeting its own targets for cutting gas emissions as its economy enjoys a steady recovery from the recession of the 1990s.

Japan has increasingly turned to carbon trading -- part of the Kyoto Protocol that allows countries that emit gas beyond their allowance to buy credits from companies or countries below their target levels.

Merkel voiced caution about the carbon market, which also exists for companies in the European Union.

"It is a wise, market-oriented measure but we need to be careful as it can go in the wrong direction," Merkel said.

"For example, if a coal factory merely moves from Europe to a foreign country because it can sell the carbon credit, that's meaningless," she said.

* Email Story
* IM Story
* Printable View

R