U.S., EU hold climate talks despite Kyoto rift

HELSINKI (Reuters) – The United States and the
European Union met on Tuesday in Helsinki to seek ways to curb greenhouse gases and promote clean energies, setting aside years of disputes over the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol which caps emissions.

Finnish Environment Minister Jan-Erik Enestam said that for now Kyoto was “dead in the United States,” and the two sides had to “concentrate on other issues and new tracks.”

Enestam, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, was speaking to Reuters just before the start of two days of talks on climate change, clean energy and sustainable development.

The EU is a strong backer of Kyoto, the main U.N. plan for capping greenhouse gas emissions and meant to help avert climate changes that could bring desertification, floods, heat waves and rising sea levels.

Reuters