Green House Gases:US must set an example, say French MPs

New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) The United States should set an example in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and participate in a creative way in the post Kyoto Protocol discussions to avoid being a party to a major climatic catastrohpe.

That is how the French Parliamentarians' group on Green House Gas Emissions, currently on a visit to India, feels.

Today the US and China are two biggest consumers of Petroleum, so they have the greatest responsibility to reduce emission of green house gases, Mr Yves le Deaut, head of the French delegation, told UNI. He is also president of the fact-finding mission at the National Assembly on greenhouse effects.

If the US itself does not set up an example, it would be futile for it to expect the developing countries to do what it wanted, he added.

The US has so far not signed the Kyoto Protocol adopted at the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. It contains legally binding commitments, in addition to those included in the UNFCCC.

Country signatories to the Protocol agreed to reduce their anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6) by at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008 to 2012. The US has so far not signed the Protocol.

Mr Deaut said he was hopeful that the US will change its stand on the Kyoto protocol.''I have recently visited the country and found that strong public opinion there was in the making about the need for their country to be an active party to all the efforts to reduce emission of greenhouse gases,'' he said.

He said that after his visit to India, he now understood its position better as regards the Kyoto Protocol obligations and its concerns regarding alleviation of poverty, economic growth and energy security.

''We need to find new technologies, so as to find a solution to the developmental problems of countries like India without contributing to global warming,'' he said.

''I agree that research and transfer of technology should be encouraged to fight against climate change,'' he added.

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