Australia to sign Kyoto 2 climate change deal
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Sydney - Australia would become the first non-European country to sign the Kyoto Protocol bridging agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said Friday.
The first commitment period of the UN-sponsored Kyoto accord ends this year. The bridging agreement takes signatories up to the 2015 bargaining period for a wished-for global deal on fighting climate change that would take effect in 2020.
"As the world increases the extent of its action on climate change, Australia's domestic scheme means that we have the ability to match that action," Combet said.
The so-called Kyoto 2 agreement commits signatories to a 5-per-cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 based on 2000 levels.
Hours after Combet spoke, New Zealand announced it would not join the next protocol phase.//DPA
