[lit-ideas] US climate deal with Asia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4723305.stm


US agrees climate deal with Asia

[photo] A layer of pollution haze hovers over Beijing, China

The US and five Asia-Pacific states have announced a surprise pact to cut greenhouse gases which falls outside the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

China, India, South Korea, Japan and Australia and the US account for nearly half of world greenhouse gas emissions.

The US-led initiative would tackle global warming with new technology supplied to countries most in need.

Critics say the new compact undermines Kyoto and is likely to be ineffective because it is non-binding.

'Superior' deal

The pact will allow signed-up countries to set their goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions individually, with no enforcement mechanism.

The signatories argue it complements, rather than weakens, the 1997 Kyoto agreement, which imposes targets on industrialised countries to cut their emissions.

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