<$BlogRSDURL$>
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
"The Kyoto Protocol ... is backfiring on some of the well-meaning countries such as New Zealand, which signed up.
"(NZers) ... face a cost blow-out from the treaty exceeding $NZ1 billion ($900 million).
"Worse ... Business New Zealand last year calculated a future liability of as much as $NZ14 billion under the protocol over the next 20 years.
"A 2002 study ... of three similar pollution trading schemes ... found they ... did not produce environmental benefits, stifled innovation in pollution controls, and led to delays and secrecy.
"... John Howard ... has set Australia's sights on a new climate change pact with the US, Japan, China, India and South Korea ... The aim of the new group is to cut emissions by encouraging new technologies rather than curtailing economic growth.
"But green groups have already claimed the new pact is a "convention of polluters" ... Greenpeace doesn't see New Zealand's billion-dollar Kyoto blow-out as a problem ... "
