RIYADH, 5 March 2004 - Saudi Arabia's senior delegate on climate change talks said yesterday the European Union should accept that Russia will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol and the 15-nation bloc would hurt itself trying to meet its targets. "We see very little chance, if any, that Russia will come on board," Mohammed Sorour Al-Sabban said. "They have decided already even though they have not announced it clearly."
"We think that the EU will eventually accept the fact that they cannot do it alone, and even if they pretend to do that in order to continue pressuring Russia to ratify the protocol, they cannot continue for ever," Al-Sabban said. European Union environment ministers this week resisted a call to put off implementing Kyoto until Russia - whose backing is key to bringing the protocol into force after Washington withdrew in 2000 - gave its ratification.
Al-Sabban said figures already showed the European Union may miss its target and that any additional measures to meet it would lead to higher energy costs which would hit EU competitiveness compared to the United States and Japan.
"They will also result in the migration of many energy-intensive industries outside Europe," said Al-Sabban, who is also a senior adviser to Saudi Petroleum and Minerals Minister Ali Al-Naimi.
Al-Sabban said coal production was still heavily subsidized in Europe and that nuclear energy was now being heavily promoted - despite the potential hazards - simply because it did not involve carbon dioxide emission. He said doubts remained over the causes of climate change. The world should abandon strict targets and timetables and aim instead for a voluntary approach that could benefit trade, economy and environment alike. Scientists were discussing possible "carbon dioxide sequestration" in dry gas fields, or under oceans, he added.
