U.S. Continues Opposition to Kyoto Environmental Treaty

fenris_23 writes "The AP is reporting that President Bush has reiterated his opposition to the Kyoto Treaty despite President Putin's acceptance of the treaty and recent scientific evidence directly linking greenhouse emissions to arctic warming. 'President Bush strongly opposes any treaty or policy that would cause the loss of a single American job, let alone the nearly 5 million jobs Kyoto would have cost,' said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality."

Comments

Re:Amazing

[IroygbivU]

The intention behind Kyoto is to get the rich developed countries into the agreement first, then when the next stage is negotiated in a few years time to begin introducing the developing world. The plan is for China, India and Brazil to sign into the agreement by 2112.

Getting rich countries started forces us to invest in the new energy efficient technology which will have matured and become cheap enough for developing countries to implement by the time they sign in. You can either look at Kyoto as a burden or an opportunity. Just as the space race gave the US the lead in computing and electronics which helped spur its current economic dominance, the early adopters of Kyoto will reap the long-term benefits of their investment in energy technology over the decades to come.