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Russia says climate deal could let it ratify Kyoto
MARRAKESH, Morocco, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The head of the Russian delegation at U.N. talks on climate change said on Saturday a deal reached on the legal language of the 1997 Kyoto Pact should make it possible for Russia to ratify it.
"This (agreement) opens the way for ratification by all countries, including by the Russian Federation," Alexander Bedritsky told the conference in Marrakesh, minutes after some 160 countries finalised the rules that will guide the treaty.
Since the United States pulled out of the pollution-cutting agreement in March, ratification by Russia and Japan has become essential to make up the numbers needed to bring the pact into force. Unlike the European Union, neither country has yet committed itself unequivocally to ratifying the pact.
Japan also indicated Tokyo might well ratify the Marrakesh deal. "We will have our cabinet decide on this after I get back but I feel personally we have a very good package," Japanese Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told Reuters.
The Kyoto Protocol commits the world's industrialised countries to cut their emissions of the greenhouse gases said to cause global warming by an average of five percent from 1990 levels by 2012.
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