Summit Leaders Plan Kyoto Protocol Replacement

Obama administration officials say they strongly believe that the meeting in Washington this past monday has improved the chances for a new treaty to address climate and global warming. The meeting of the world’s 16 “major emitters” and the European Union [EU] made up the conference. The new treaty will hopefully effected and replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol after the international meeting in Copenhagen in December of this year.

While President Obama has his own goals of cutting U.S. emissions by 15% by 2020, the EU has its own targets, while developing nations must find the balance between cutting emissions and reducing poverty. It is important to keep in mind the quite a few industrialized nations have not met targets set in the Kyoto agreement, which will void in 2012.

The conflict to this subject is mainly the gap between industrialized states and developing states. Developing economies such as China and India need to find ways to both cut back on emissions and decrease poverty levels, while a few European nations and the U.S. propose cuts far greater that the proposed 15%.

Although this is a rather persistent problem, it has been reported that all of the delegates in Washington are very supportive of this matter and without a doubt are willing to make the right decisions that will push the Kyoto protocol replacement treaty through the upcoming meetings in Paris, Italy, and Copenhagen.

With these upcoming conferences and further discussion of slowing climate change and global warming, we will definitely find the answers to our problems. With those answers, we will also pave the path to a more sustainable world and learn to live in balance with our environment.

Original article: VOA News, April 28, 2009