Australia to sign up for Kyoto 2 Protocol

Key greenhouse gas emitter Australia said it was ready to sign up for a second round of the Kyoto Protocol environmental protection treaty, and urged other countries to do the same. Climate Minister Greg Combet made the announcement in a speech to a carbon expo, saying: "Australia is ready to join a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol". Australia is among the world's worst per capita polluters, with a heavy reliance on coal mining and exports and most of its electricity coming from coal-fired power stations. Although Kyoto -- the first global treaty to set binding obligations on wealthy countries to cut emissions -- was negotiated in 1997, Australia refused to join for years. It was only when Labor came to power in 2007 that it shifted course, with Kevin Rudd formally entering the treaty as one of his first acts after becoming prime minister. Combet's announcement comes ahead of annual negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which this year take place in Doha, Qatar, from November 26-December 7. The big issue is renewing commitments under Kyoto after the first round of cuts expires on December 31, although agreement on a new globally-binding deal is not expected until 2015 and will not come into force until 2020. Combet said Australia's decision was not a blank cheque and other countries must also step up. "For Australia, there must be continued progress towards this new agreement by 2015, from both the developing and developed countries alike," he said. "The Kyoto Protocol is not enough on its own -- it will cover less than 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and only from a number of developed economies. "So to be effective, the new 2015 agreement needs to cover all the major emissions sources." He added: "From 2020 we expect all countries -- including the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, India, Indonesia and South Korea -- will be part of a new agreement to reduce emissions. "This will bring all countries onto the same legal platform to reduce emissions." Almost immediately, New Zealand said it was not signing up for the second round, but denied it was withdrawing from Kyoto. New Zealand Climate Change Minister Tim Groser said the country had opted to instead manage its emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which does not include binding commitments. Kyoto is a talisman for developing countries, but more and more developed nations say it is unfair because its binding emissions targets do not affect emerging giants such as China, India and Brazil. Combet said Australia also wanted conditions to be met in Doha, including access to the Kyoto market mechanisms, such as the Clean Development Mechanism, from January 1, 2013 and the need for existing land sector rules to continue. This would ensure Australian businesses have access to international credits under the Clean Development Mechanism, helping reduce emissions at the lowest cost to the economy. If there was agreement, Canberra would take on an emissions reduction target consistent with the bipartisan commitment to cut them by five percent below 2000 levels by 2020. "As we've made clear before, the government leaves on the table the potential to increase the target to up to 15 or 25 percent, depending on the scale of global action," he said. The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed Combet's commitment as "important because it can help build momentum towards an international agreement to tackle climate change".