Russia Ready To Ink Kyoto Pact

Russia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday ratified the Kyoto Protocol and sent it to President Vladimir Putin for the final stamp of approval that would bring the global climate pact into force early next year.

The Federation Council voted 139-1 with one abstention to endorse the protocol, which aims to stem global warming by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The quick vote came four days after the lower house ratified the treaty.

Without Russia's support, the pact — which has been rejected by the United States and Australia — cannot come into effect. It needs ratification by 55 industrialized nations accounting for at least 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 1990.

"Without Russia's participation, the world community's efforts for many years to establish a global mechanism for solving environmental problems would be doomed to failure," Mikhail Margelov, the Kremlin-linked chief of the council's foreign affairs committee, told lawmakers.

Putin pledged in May to speed up ratification in return for the European Union's support of Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization, and he's expected to sign it quickly. The 1997 pact would take effect 90 days after Russia notifies the United Nations of its ratification.

The approval by both houses of the Kremlin-controlled parliament followed years of hesitation and fierce debates among Russian officials. Russian foes of Kyoto warned that the pact would stymie the nation's economic growth, but its supporters dismissed the claim, saying that even after a five-year recovery, the post-Soviet industrial meltdown has left emissions some 30 percent below the baseline.

The United States — with about 5 percent of the world's population — alone accounted for 36 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in 1990, while Russia (with 2 percent of the people on Earth) accounted for 17 percent.

The Russian Cabinet has voiced hope that the treaty, which allows countries to trade greenhouse gas emission allowances, would enable Russia to attract foreign investment to improve the energy-efficiency and competitiveness of its crumbling industries.

Under the treaty, Russia can also sell unused emissions credits to countries that have exceeded their limits.

Once the deal takes effect, industrialized countries will have until 2012 to cut their collective emissions of six key greenhouse gases to 5.2 percent below the 1990 level. The next round of international climate talks is scheduled for December in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and negotiations on greenhouse-gas emissions after 2012 are due to start next year.

The Federation Council said in a statement Wednesday that Russia would make a decision on its participation in post-2012 emission cuts proceeding from the outcome of the December talks.

President Bush abandoned the Kyoto treaty early in his term, saying it would hurt the U.S. economy while asking little of developing countries like China and India, which lag the West in emissions now but are on track to be the big polluters of the future.

The president's decision angered European allies like Britain and France.

The treaty regulates gasses that are believed to trap excess heat in the Earth's atmosphere, triggering climactic change that could lead to more severe weather, rising ocean levels that swamp low-lying areas and the disappearance of habitats for animals and arable land for human food.