New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday the US should follow his lead and ratify the Kyoto Protocol, completing his country's switch from Washington's sole ally on global warming to its latest critic.

Rudd signed documents this week that will formally commit Australia to the international agreement, reversing a decade of resistance and leaving the US as the only industrialized country to refuse to accept binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our position vis-a-vis Kyoto is clear cut, and that is that all developed and developing countries need to be part of the global solution," Rudd told the Southern Cross Broadcasting radio network.

"When it comes to developed countries and to significant emitters like the United States, we need to see our friends in America part and parcel of that process," Rudd said. "And therefore we do need to see the United States as a full ratification state when it comes to Kyoto."

Rudd, who plans to visit Washington by mid-2008 for talks with US President George W. Bush, dodged the question when asked if he would urge Bush to ratify the Kyoto pact.

Rudd's Labor Party swept to power in November 24 elections, ending more than 11 years of conservative rule under former Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch Bush ally.

Signing the Kyoto documents was Rudd's first official act, and the policy switch was greeted by applause at an international conference in Bali, Indonesia, that is mapping out the world's next steps in fighting global warming. Rudd will lead Australia's top delegation to the meeting next week.

He said he wants Australia to become a broker on the climate change issue through "creative middle-power diplomacy."

"We've had a bad record on climate change," Rudd said. "It's time to put that behind us. I believe that we now need to do whatever we can to bridge the gap between the developed and developing worlds, because right now the gap is huge."

Germany to cut emission

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet agreed yesterday upon a new package of measures designed to reduce the country's emissions of greenhouse gases by 40 percent over the next dozen years, the Environment Ministry said.

The Cabinet agreed on 14 laws and regulations designed to help Germany reach its targets.

Among them is one that will ensure at least half of German electricity comes from either renewable sources or super-efficient plants that produce both electricity and heat by 2020. The plan would increase reliance on renewable energy sources from the current 12 percent to between 25 and 30 percent, and the other source from 12 to 25 percent.

Agencies

(China Daily 12/06/2007 page7)