Japan and other countries will proceed as scheduled to finalize the Kyoto Protocol rules on global warming as it is increasingly unlikely that the United States will devise an alternative to the accord ahead of upcoming climate talks, Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday. Signatories to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change will try to finalize the operating rules for the protocol during the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, which begins Oct. 29 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The protocol was adopted at COP3 in Kyoto in 1997.
"I think it will be difficult for the U.S. to produce an alternative proposal (by COP7). Time is limited and it seems more difficult than in early September," Kawaguchi said.
During a visit to the U.S. in September, Kawaguchi said she was told by U.S. officials that the alternative proposal would be decided upon at the Cabinet level.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, however, it seems unlikely that the U.S. administration will be able afford the time to debate and agree to an alternative to the protocol, she said.
Kawaguchi confirmed that there has been no change in the schedule of the upcoming talks in Morocco.