JCP Shii criticizes U.S. Bush administration for refusing COP3 Kyoto Protocol

On the announcement of the U.S. Bush administration that it does not support the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo on April 3 issued the following statement:

The U.S. Bush administration spokesman's statement on March 28 that it does not support the Kyoto Protocol shocked the world's organizations, nations, and people calling for the prevention of global warming and protection of the global environment.

The Protocol of the 1997 Kyoto Conference for preventing global warming (COP3) has been much criticized in the world for including various loopholes at the strong request of the U.S., such as emissions trading and technology transfer, which will allow the U.S. and other developing countries to substantially decrease their target of greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

The Kyoto Protocol acceded to the U.S. request for lowering the target downward, and yet the U.S. now refuses to make efforts to even achieve that target. It is acting in bad faith, shirking its responsibility to international politics.

The Kyoto Protocol will take effect when the greenhouse gas emissions of the nations which are required to make special efforts reach 55 percent of the total emissions of all nations ratifying the treaty. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions alone account for 36 percent of the total'. It thus bears a heavy responsibility in the matter.

The U.S. announcement threw cold water on the world's environmental activists who have been making strenuous efforts to prevent global warming. It is natural for the European Union to criticize the U.S. and state that they have no intention of calling for the abrogation of the Kyoto Protocol.

Japan's government should be firm toward the U.S. and urge it to ratify the Kyoto Protocol since Japan hosted and chaired the COP3, the 3rd Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto in December 1997. Japan should also ratify the Kyoto Protocol as soon as possible.

The JCP will do its utmost, jointly with the people in Japan and the rest of the world who are worried about global warming, to get the Kyoto Protocol to be brought into effect as the first practical step of the world toward global warming prevention. (end)