Fed: Hill tp discuss alternative to Kyoto with US administration

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2001
Fed: Hill tp discuss alternative to Kyoto with US administration

CANBERRA, April 18 AAP - Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill will discuss alternatives
to the Kyoto protocol with the Bush administration ahead of international talks about
greenhouse gases later this week.

Senator Hill told reporters in Washington that while the Kyoto protocol remained Australia's
preferred option, it would not work without the support of the US.

He said it was premature to say whether the US could be brought back to the negotiating
table until he had talked to the White House, the state department and the US environmental
watchdog today.

All options would be discussed, Senator Hill said in a transcript received in Canberra today.

"If the United States has formed the view that it's impossible to resolve those issues,
then we may well need to look for a new path forward," Senator Hill said.

New Zealand, Japan and the European Union are working on diplomatic solutions to the
Kyoto impasse after the US pulled out of the process last month.

To come into force the protocol needs to be signed by 55 countries producing 55 per
cent of greenhouse gas emissions. The US accounts for 25 per cent of emissions.

The EU and 40 other countries, including Australia, are due to hold wider environmental
talks in New York later this week.

But Senator Hill repeated Australia's conviction Kyoto was doomed without the US.

"We ... need to engage the United States on the way forward in resolving the outstanding
issues," he said.

"And whether that is a Kyoto plus an additional instrument or a new all-encompassing
instrument, nobody knows for sure."

AAP kmh/mjm/bwl

KEYWORD: KYOTO HILL

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