Unanimous Vote in Bundestag for Global Climate Protection Treaty

Germany's parliament voted unanimously March 22 to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the global agreement to prevent climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The decision shows Germany's broad-based commitment to seeing the agreement enter into force by September 2002, when nations will come together in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

"With this decision we are committing ourselves to possibly the greatest challenge of the 21st Century: to limit climate change so that man and nature can live with it," Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin said in a policy statement before the Bundestag vote.

Reducing Greenhouse Gases
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreed to by the international community calls for industrialized nations to reduce emissions of gases like carbon dioxide, which are responsible for global warming in the. More than 6000 representatives from 180 countries have agreed on the rules for implementation.

The protocol calls for an average reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in industrialized countries of 5.2% below 1990 levels by the year 2012. Germany has pledged to reduce its emissions 21% below 1990 levels between the years 2008 and 2012. Already, Germany has reduced its emissions of greenhouse gases 18.7% below 1990 levels; more specifically, emissions of carbon dioxide have been reduced by 15.5%.

International Agreement
The European Union earlier this month cleared the way for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by its member nations. The goal is to have the protocol enter into force by the time of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. At least 55 parties must have ratified the protocol by 90 days before the summit, and those signatory states must include developed countries responsible for at least 55% of the carbon dioxide emissions in 1990. The US no longer supports the Kyoto Protocol, therefore the European Union, the eastern European countries, Japan and Russia must all ratify the protocol to reach that standard.

Learn more about the Kyoto Protocol in our E² - Energy and the Environment InFocus

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