European and Japanese governments reacted angrily yesterday to the Bush administration’s decision to abandon the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Japan’s ambassador for global environmental affairs, Kazuo Asakai, said that “Japan will be dismayed and deeply disappointed” if the U.S. rejects the agreement. Today, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is expected to appeal to Bush on behalf of European Union countries to reconsider his decision, arguing that the U.S. has a responsibility to act on climate change because it is the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. E.U. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom indicated she will continue to push for ratification and enforcement of the treaty by 2002, with or without U.S. participation. Meanwhile, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman is entering a meeting today with environmental ministers from around the Western Hemisphere with no alternative policy on global warming to discuss.
