Summit Decrees 6% Reduction in Main Global Warming Gases

After two years and 11 days of talks, delegates at an international summit here decreed today that the world’s developed nations over the next 15 years will cut emissions of the six main “greenhouse gases” blamed for global warming by 6% from 1990 levels.

“Today we reached an historic first step in a truly international effort to reduce global warming,” said Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, the U.S. negotiator.

The accord crafted this week in Japan has been called one of the most difficult international pacts negotiated, with the 166 countries gathering to decide the future of Earth’s atmosphere discovering that their hardest task was simply to find common ground.

The talks, aimed at improving the global environment, also hit at the heart of nations’ economies and bitterly split the developed and developing countries over the roles each side should play in the process. In debates that continued well past the Wednesday midnight deadline in Japan, the two sides were unable to bridge their differences, leaving several key issues to be settled next year.

While nearly all participants and observers lauded the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, which seemed at some moments precariously close to failure, it is considered by most to be a work in progress.

“I am very pleased that the United States has reached an historic agreement with other nations of the world to take unprecedented action to address the global problem of climate change,” President Clinton said before leaving New York for Miami Beach late Wednesday night Eastern Standard Time. “This agreement is environmentally strong and economically sound. It reflects a commitment by our generation to act in the interest of future generations.”

Clinton credited Vice President Al Gore for helping move the negotiations to a successful conclusion, which he said represents “realistic and achievable commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

On a cautious note, the president added: “There are still hard challenges ahead, particularly in the area of involvement by developing nations. It is essential that these nations participate in a meaningful way if we are to truly tackle this global environmental change. But the industrialized nations have come together and taken a strong step--and that is real progress.”

Each country must sign the agreement by March 1999, but there is no deadline for ratification by the individual nations.

The United States agreed to reduce greenhouse gases to a level 7% below what they were in 1990--a much deeper cut than the U.S. originally proposed--but failed to win several crucial measures that would help the U.S. reach that ambitious target and rally support for ratification of the treaty in Congress. They include voluntary commitments from developing countries to control emissions; the acceptance of a market for trading emissions that would have allowed countries to buy from others who have not exceeded their limits the “rights” to emit greenhouse gases; and strict penalties for parties who don’t meet their targets, leading some to say that the U.S. gave away too much.

“The Kyoto product does not meet the standard set by the Senate,” said Sen. Robert Byrd, a leader of a unanimous resolution early this year that required “meaningful participation” by developing countries as a condition for ratification.

“Even though the agreement is not everything we wanted, the countries here showed political will to grapple with the issues,” said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s much better to go out of here with something rather than nothing, and it’s up to us to strengthen it before the next meeting.”

Today’s agreement should gradually change the way nations produce and use power, experts said. It will alter the way global residents tackle tasks, from manufacturing semiconductors to washing clothes.

It could mean higher gas and electricity prices in the United States but also could bring about more efficient appliances and competitive industries. It could even mean the difference between tiny island nations sinking or surviving against the threat of rising ocean levels due to melting icecaps.

Hours after the Wednesday midnight deadline had passed here for completing work on the environmental compact, after translators had gone home and left delegates to fend for themselves, and long after the sun rose over Kyoto’s hills, exhausted conferees heard the chairman’s gavel finally fall, marking agreement on the details of a grand plan to protect the planet.

Delegates decided that industrialized nations would commit by 2012 to an average 6% reduction from 1990 levels in the emission of six key greenhouse gases, which experts say create a roof that traps warm air over Earth, causing the planet to warm faster than usual with what experts predict can be devastating results.

At the conference, scientists announced that 1997 has been the warmest year on record.

In California, the sorts of changes in weather patterns that scientists say are caused by global warming already can be seen by the surfers who no longer need a wetsuit in warmer oceans, the fishermen who are suddenly finding tropical fish in once-colder northern waters, and those who weathered a storm in Los Angeles last week likely related to El Nino.

To stem such changes, the countries agreed to varying limits on greenhouse gas emissions, depending on their previous efforts to reduce them and other special circumstances.

The U.S.--where the Kyoto Protocol will now face a rough ratification test in the Senate--committed to a reduction of 7% below 1990 levels, the European Union to 8%, while Australia will be allowed an exceptional 8% increase because its economy is heavily dependent on its coal exports.

Twenty-one other industrialized nations will work toward similar reductions to be achieved between 2008 and 2012. All are committed to even greater reductions thereafter.

Times staff writer Elizabeth Shogren in New York contributed to this report.

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A Plan for the Planet

The agreement reached in Japan could determine how countries use and produce power for decades to come. The plan, which still must be ratified by individual nations, would:

1) Cut six “greenhouse gases” by an average of 6% from 1990 levels.

2) Set a target date of between 2008 and 2012 for the reductions.

3) Require a 7% cut by the U.S.; 8% by the European Union.

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How Global Warming Occurs

Carbon dioxide, methane and other gases trap heat in a “greenhouse effect.” They allow sunlight in but retain heat Earth emits.

Incoming solar radiation

Reflected heat from Earth gets trapped

Incoming solar radiation reflected by clouds

Cutting and burning of rain forests adds CO2 to the atmosphere

Some heat escapes to space

Trapped gases

Sources: World Resources Institute, Associated Press

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Impact of the Drop

The agreement gives countries until 2008-2012 to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases by an average of 6% below 1990 levels.

Gas: Carbon dioxide

Sources: Coal, oil, natural gas, deforestation

U.S. emissions (millions of tons): 4,970

Methods/consequences: Less air pollution, higher electricity and gasoline costs, more solar energy, less mining

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Gas: Methane

Sources: Leaking natural gas pipelines, animals rice paddy cultivation

U.S. emissions (millions of tons): 623.7

Methods/consequences: More recovery of methane from animal compost; alternative rice production; repair of leaky pipes

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Gas: Nitrous Oxide

Sources: Fertilizer, nylon production

U.S. emissions (millions of tons): 132

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Gas: HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons)

Sources: Refrigerators, air conditioners

U.S. emissions (millions of tons): 44

Methods/consequences: Use of alternative refrigerants; development of more-efficient appliances

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Gas: PFCs (perfluorocarbons)

Sources: Use in making semiconductors, aluminum

U.S. emissions (millions of tons): 18.4

Methods/consequences: Reduction in aluminum smelting

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Gas: Sulfur hexafluoride

Sources: Manufacture of high-voltage equipment, cable cooling systems

U.S. emissions (millions of tons): 25.7

Methods/consequences: Use of substitutes that are currently available

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CO2 Emissions

Top emitters of carbon dioxide (annual tons per capita):

United States

China

Russia

Japan

Germany

India

Ukraine

Britain

Canada

Italy

Sources: Environmental Defense Fund, U.S. Information Agency, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center