from Sunday Herald, 13 February 2005
JACK McConnell has launched an unprecedented attack on US President, George W Bush, for rejecting the international agreement to cut the pollution that is wrecking the climate.
Although Prime Minister Tony Blair has always shied away from attacking Bush, the First Minister has abandoned any such qualms and has done so only months before Bush is due to visit Gleneagles for the G8 summit in July.
“We all know that the single most damaging decision made by any world leader in the last 10 years was the decision by President Bush not to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change,” said McConnell.
The Kyoto Protocol, agreed in the Japanese city in 1997, comes into force this Wednesday. It commits industrialised countries to cut their emissions of polluting greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide by 5% before 2012.
Although the European Union, Britain, Russia and more than 100 other countries have signed the protocol, the US has persistently refused to do so. McConnell suggested that the G8 summit would be an opportunity to try to persuade Bush to change his position.
“It is essential that we maintain the pressure on the US to recognise its responsibilities not just to present and future generations of its own citizens, but to the citizens of the rest of the world,” he said.
“The US creates far too much of the world’s pollution. It has a duty and a responsibility to help to alleviate the world’s pollution and to ensure that, in years to come, the environment is much better than it is today.”
The First Minister first made his attack on Bush at a meeting last week organised by Scottish Environment Link, the umbrella body for Scotland’s green groups. His remarks were warmly welcomed by Link’s president, Fred Edwards. “With the G8 summit rolling in to Gleneagles this summer, it is imperative that our elected representatives take to task climate deniers like the US government,” he said.
“If the US administration is to be convinced by the words of Scottish politicians, like the First Minister, then it is critical we put our own house in order first,” he added.
The Executive admitted on a Friday failing to meet one of its climate change targets, managing only a 3.2% cut in its energy use between 2000 and 2004 instead of the 5% set down.
An Executive spokeswoman pointed out that progress had been made in other areas, such as decreases in water consumption and increases in the use of recycled paper. Dr Richard Dixon, head of policy with the Aberfeldy-based environmental group, WWF Scotland said: “This highlights the lack of action on climate change even on the easy things.”
Ministers are reviewing the Executive’s climate change programme. Yesterday, there was a march and mass bike ride to Holyrood to urge ministers to go beyond the basic requirements of the Kyoto protocol. Green MSP Mark Ruskell urged governments around the world to take “ambitious and concerted action”.
