With Kyoto in force, officials think of next step

17 February 2005

BONN – UN officials in Bonn said a new world climate conference would take place from 28 November to 9 December in Montreal, Canada, and a German minister called for further deep cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions.

They spoke as the Kyoto pact came into force, seven years after a the first climate conference in Japan.

The UN Climate Secretariat said a working meeting would convene in Bonn in May before the end-of-year conference.

Juergen Trittin, the German Environment Minister who egged on delegates at a previous climate conference in Bonn to put teeth into a climate treaty, said he would gladly offer to cut German CO2 emissions even more.

Berlin is committed to a cut of 21 percent up to the year 2012. Trittin said he envisaged a cut totalling 40 percent by 2020, meaning 200 million tons less of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

But Juergen Thumann, president of the Confederation of German Industry BDI, warned the government not to rush into commitments, saying the United States, China and India were next in line to make cuts. Thumann said German industry had already sharply reduced CO2.

Olaf Tschimpke, president of the German environmental group NABU, praised Trittin, saying Germany had taken the lead to make the Kyoto agreement a success. He said Berlin should not rest on its laurels but continue the fight to prevent climate change.

DPA

Subject: German news