Experts Voice Skepticism about Kyoto Protocol

Experts and diplomats meeting in Montreal this week to discuss global warming say they will have to dangle more financial carrots to win support from nations that have so far spurned agreements to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reports the Wall Street Journal. They say financial rewards will be crucial to reduce emissions growth in developing nations such as China and India, which are unlikely to accept binding emission-reduction targets.

There is increasing skepticism about the Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrialized nations that ratified the treaty to collectively cut the emissions of gases believed to cause global warming by 5 percent below the 1990 level by 2012 or face tougher targets. Many of the countries that signed up for cuts under Kyoto are emitting more greenhouse gases than in 1990. In addition, the world's two biggest global warming emitters, the U.S. and China, have not signed up for emission cuts under the treaty.