Australia ratifies Kyoto Treaty as Bali conference opens; US now the lone holdout

Minutes after taking the oath of office as Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd signed documents ratifying the Kyoto Treaty on behalf of Australia. The United States is now the only major industrial nation which has not ratified the 1997 Agreement.

Delegates to the 13th UN Conference on Climate Change, now meeting in Bali, rose in a standing ovation after the Australian delegation signaled the impending ratification.

190 nations are now meeting in Bali to negotiate a successor treaty to the Kyoto pact, which expires in 2012. The Bali meetings last from December 3rd through December 14th.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

UN Climate Change Conference opens in Bali: delegates hope to frame successor to Kyoto Treaty

The UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia opens today. Participants at the ten day long conference hope to frame a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Accord, which expires in 2012. The lea...

Al Gore says US to blame for “obstructing progress” in Bali, to thunderous applause

As the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali approached its final day, signing of the Bali Roadmap document was imperiled by a deadlock over the inclusion of emission reduction targets in the docume...

US and German blocs at odds over Bali Roadmap at UN Climate Change Conference: To agree simply to meet again is a failure, say Germans

At the UN Conference on Climate Change at Bali, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the major goal of the conference was to agree to negotiations for a treaty that would be agreed at Copenhag...

UN Secretary-General to visit South America; to “see first-hand the effects of climate change” as Bali conference preparations continue

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon starts a South American tour this week and will visit the Antarctic and the Amazon rain forest to "see first-hand the effects of climate change and deforestation on ...

Bali conference: China, Japan, Canada skirmish over developing nations’ share of emission reductions

As opening formalities at the UN Conference on Climate Change at Bali give way to substantive negotiations, skirmishes have already erupted between the largest polluters over how to share the burden o...

US climate proposals “simply not enough”, say delegates as Washington climate conference ends

The two-day conference of the 17 "Heavy Smoker" major polluting nations ended with disappointment over President George Bush's call for voluntary emission targets set by each individual country. Th...