Beware Kyoto penalties, UN warns Australia ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Beware Kyoto penalties, UN warns Australia

1 December 2007

The United Nations' chief climate negotiator says the Rudd government's decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is more than symbolic - and warns it faces penalties if it fails to meet its targets.

Yvo de Boer applauded the decision to ratify the protocol, and said it would make "a big difference" to Australia's standing at global climate talks in Bali which begin on Monday.

But he warned that if it fails to meet its greenhouse gas emissions target, "Australia is stepping into a legally binding international instrument that would oblige [it] to meet its target and it has penalties in place if [it] were to fail to do so."
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See - Kyoto penalties.

Ratifying Kyoto will not prevent a single kilogram of greenhouse gas emissions but all the paper going back and forth between government departments in Canberra on the issue will increase deforestation ...