US firmly anti-Kyoto

The United States showed no signs of budging in its opposition to the Kyoto protocol yesterday as UN climate change talks began, a month after President George W. Bush's re-election and Russia's ratification of the agreement.

The US government said it had "chosen a different path" from Kyoto, but vowed to work against global warming by slowing greenhouse gas emissions, investing in climate science and technology and cooperating internationally.

Mr Bush withdrew in 2001 from the 128-nation Kyoto protocol, which seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions by five per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. He argued it was too expensive and wrongly excluded developing nations.

Of the large industrialised countries, only the United States and Australia have refused to join the UN effort. But they account for around one-third of global emissions. The Australian government says ratifying Kyoto would hike power prices and cost the country jobs.

Scientists predict the rise in temperatures will accelerate melting glaciers and polar ice caps, leading to a rise in sea levels, extreme weather like heat waves, the spread of tropical diseases and the collapse of forests, coral reefs and farming.