EU Stands Firm in Support of Kyoto at Climate Talks

The Bush administration stands immovably opposed to an international plan to combat global warming, U.S. officials reiterated Thursday, but all other countries key to its success touted encouraging progress toward a treaty that will parcel out targets for reducing “greenhouse gases.”

The first day of high-level talks among 185 countries in the U.N. Convention on Climate Change reflected both increasing U.S. isolation and the stubborn determination of European allies to make a success of the Kyoto Protocol regardless of the U.S. retreat.

In fact, the 15-nation European Union has appeared galvanized since President Bush announced in March that the United States was withdrawing from the accord it reached in the Japanese city four years ago. EU officials have assumed the leadership role usually performed by their American counterparts and have waged elaborate behind-the-scenes diplomacy to resolve some issues.

Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk, who chairs the conference, said he was pleased with the outcome of negotiations ahead of the gathering here. The “good start” made on the first day showed that an agreement is within reach, he said.

Pronk damned the U.S. delegation with faint praise in saying it was upholding Bush’s promise not to obstruct other nations trying to secure ratification of the protocol.

Keeping a low profile, Bush’s envoy to the conference, Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, made no public statements except a short address at the opening to confirm that U.S. delegates were here only to ensure that what gets decided by the others places no financial or political encumbrances on Washington.

“While we do not believe the Kyoto Protocol is sound public policy for the United States, we do not intend to prevent others from going ahead with the treaty so long as they do not harm legitimate U.S. interests,” she told the conference.

The Kyoto accord sets out specific targets for each nation that signs on, with a goal of cutting emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels by 2012. It requires the ratification of 55 countries that account for at least 55% of the industrialized world’s emissions.

Though the Bush administration has pulled out of the accord, Washington is party to the 1992 Rio de Janeiro convention that defined the goals for climate protection and led to Kyoto. The U.S. thus remains obliged to shoulder a hefty share of the costs in helping poorer nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

That complicated mix of retained and rejected responsibilities has confronted those still committed to the Kyoto accord with the task of, as one environmental activist put it, “trying to unscramble the egg” of financing.

After earlier rounds of talks on who will do what and how to fight global warming, Pronk put together a draft treaty addressing the Rio goals with proposed financing and enforcement procedures. These include a $1-billion fund for assisting developing nations, which, according to the Rio formula for distributing costs, could put as much as 40% of the bill on U.S. accounts.

Kyoto’s success could therefore hinge on how much flexibility U.S. officials show in accepting a share of the assistance fund as a contractual obligation made in the Rio convention, which was signed by Bush’s father, former President George Bush.

U.S. officials who spoke to The Times on condition they not be identified indicated that they will continue to hold out.

“We think it would be unreasonable for us to take on new obligations under the convention just so they can get a political deal,” said a senior U.S. delegate.

The officials insisted that the Bush administration plans to propose its own program for combating global warming but gave no forecasts for when the plan would be forthcoming. In Rome, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the White House was aiming for the next and final scheduled climate summit, to be held in Morocco in October.

Environmentalists accuse the U.S. leadership of delaying the Kyoto process with hopes of defeating it. The meeting here, originally scheduled for May, was postponed because U.S. officials said they needed more time to draft an alternative.

“The whole reason for the delay was to give them time to put something together, and still they came here with nothing,” said Alden Meyer, director of government relations for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. “People I’ve talked with don’t think they will have anything” in Morocco either.

“The most disturbing part of these talks is the complete abdication of President Bush on global warming,” complained Philip Clapp, president of the Washington-based National Environmental Trust. Even if the administration is able to cobble together its own plan by October, he said, “you can’t put a totally new program on the table at the last minute.”

The Kyoto Protocol must be completed this fall if it is to be ratified by enough nations by next year’s deadline, which was set in Rio.

The Europeans are emphasizing the need for solidarity and speed. The Bonn conference ends next Friday, but the national delegation leaders leave after this weekend.

The main sticking points, officials said, were over how to credit countries for planting new forests to soak up carbon gases and how to punish those who miss their cleanup targets.